Panelists Ponder Telecom Rewrite

A panel of Washington players agreed that updating communications regulations was necessary, but there was disagreement on how and why that should happen.

Google Senior Counsel Staci Pies said the company was not backing any particular framework, but that while Google did not argue for sticking with the current regulatory regime, Congress should look for new ways to insure regulatory obligations for access and universal service carry over to an all-IP world.

Craig Silliman, Verizon Executive Vice President for Public Policy, Law & Security, took aim at arguments that a rewrite wouldn't happen, including that the divided Congress was too dysfunctional, that a rewrite was not necessary because the broadband space has flourished and nothing is broken, and that regulators can adapt the old rule.