A new American Consumer Institute (ACI) report concludes that federal regulations on broadband network companies—as distinguished from the edge providers not under that regime—has increased costs for those providers while lowering growth, suppressing investment and dampening job creation.
“We’re witnessing a crippling wave of overregulation in the U.S. telecommunications industry that is resulting in economic consequences that impede private investments and job creation, and at the end of the day the only losers are American consumers,” said Institute president Steve Pociask in a statement.
He called for a new approach. “Under this new administration, policymakers and regulators must put aside partisan agendas and work together to deliver practical broadband policies that level the competitive playing field and support our nation’s economy and encourages innovation.”
One of the reports key points is the disparity between the regulated ISPs and the edge providers "who often call for the imposition of these rules on their would-be network rivals."
The knock on the FCC and Obama Administration is that Google has gotten the long end of the stick at the expense of the network providers investing billions in broadband.
The study concludes that ISPs, tabbed "core providers," create twice as many jobs as edge providers, while earning profits as "lower rates" and investing more back into the economy.
The institute is looking for regulation reform and rollback.
"[T]he current array of FCC regulations imposed and proposed—create market risk and uncertainty, which increase costs that adversely affects investors and network operators," the report's authors conclude. Those authors are Pociask and ACI senior fellow and retired economics professor Joseph Fuhr.
