Why wireless will escape the FCC’s redefinition

[Commentary] Until February, mobile broadband had always been classified as an information service, and even the most aggressive regulators thought it was beyond Title II’s reach. And for very good reason: Wireless is special. Wired broadband is no easy feat. But wireless is technically more tricky, it is capacity-constrained, and it operates in a shared medium, with many users competing for limited capacity. Airborne wireless signals must contend with trees, buildings and other wireless signals in their attempt to reach mobile devices traveling at 70 miles an hour down the highway. With wires, moreover, we can light up another fiber optic cable if need be. But mobile is constrained by the amount of commercially available wireless spectrum, which has been in short supply and where the future pipeline is uncertain.

Mobile networks thus employ a number of technical and commercial methods to deliver robust and economical services. Wireless relies on differentiated signaling and packet prioritization to make sure users get their fair share of capacity and to ensure various applications work properly. Wireless is doubly important for the economy. Wireless is also doubly vulnerable to bureaucratic meddling that would interfere with technical and commercial innovation. Fortunately, wireless is doubly protected by statute. The courts will likely strike down the Federal Communications Commission’s ill-advised and illegal rules, with a double denunciation for wireless meddling.

[Bret Swanson is president of Entropy Economics LLC and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute]