Broadband growth means staying the course

[Commentary] Feb 8 is the 20th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the last rewrite of the nation's communications laws that set the stage for the competition, innovation and investment that we now enjoy but must not take for granted. The act's framers promoted light-touch regulation and a structure that led to an expanding Internet driven by new technologies, devices and applications. These forward-looking Clinton-era policies placed competition and investment as the central catalysts to drive innovation and advance consumer benefits.

Two stark paths now lie before the Federal Communications Commission: It can advance pro-investment, facilities-based broadband competition or it can discourage investment and broadband build-out. Recent actions and announcements from the FCC indicate that the agency may be backtracking on the successful broadband policies of the past two decades. Rate regulation of broadband, for example, would negatively affect a growing sector of the economy by allowing government to place its hand on the scale rather than permitting market competition. A fitting anniversary celebration of the 1996 Telecom Act would be to stay the course so wisely set forth by Congress and the Clinton administration to encourage investment and innovation. We know it works. Just look at your smartphone.

[Rick Boucher, an attorney, served in Congress for 28 years and chaired a House subcommittee on communications and the Internet. He is honorary chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA). Larry Irving was assistant secretary of commerce during the Clinton administration and a founding co-chairman of IIA.]