Modernizing the FCC: It’s not that complicated

In the telecommunications industry’s current situation, the Federal Communications Commission’s historic mission must be modernized to reflect the fundamental evolution in communications that Internet protocol (IP) technology and the Internet have wrought. If it doesn’t, the agency will become irrelevant.

New technologies (like What’sApp) are rapidly replacing the services provided by the “carriers” the Communications Act was written to cover. And those services are being deployed through applications and technologies by companies that have traditionally been beyond the scope of the FCC’s jurisdiction. Instead of picking winners and losers among companies when it says it is acting to protect competition, for the good of industry investment and job creation, the FCC should yield to the expertise of others when it comes to competition and antitrust. So, what should be the focus of the FCC’s mission instead? One inarguable priority should be consumer protection, and another would be public safety. As the US government’s technical expert for communications, we recognize that the agency also continues to oversee the universal service mandate on the wireline side, and on the wireless side, that the FCC is a critical agent for managing spectrum issues.