Bring in the IP transition

[Commentary] Our nation’s telecommunications system still overly relies on an outdated 20th century technology consisting largely of copper wiring that harkens back to the days of Alexander Graham Bell and rotary telephone dials. But a change is afoot, a change that can meet the growing demand of consumers who thirst for faster and more advanced broadband. This is a change that must be made if the US also wants to compete effectively with the rest of the world. That change means making the transition from the 20th century technology to fiber and all-Internet Protocol (IP) technology of our century.

Late last year, the Federal Communications Commission announced the formation of a committee to investigate the processes, benefits and complexities of moving to an all-IP system. Part of the FCC’s plan to transition to all-IP networks includes the IP transition trials, which would offer a runway for test flights of new services, new infrastructure and a workable process for converting consumers from the old to the new. The potential benefits of the IP transition would be tremendous in terms of economic development, job creation and growth, and consumer welfare. What is needed is more fiber deployment, along with more spectrum for wireless broadband. What’s the solution to moving forward?

As co-chairs of the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee’s Internet Protocol Transition Working Group, we implore the FCC to move forward with the trials to get the ball rolling. If we, as a nation, are to meet the goals of the president’s National Broadband Plan, we need new investment and a new plan to carry forward the United States into the 21st century.

[Steve Pociask is president of the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research and Barry Umansky is an attorney and professor at Ball State University’s Digital Policy Institute] (Sept 11)