FCC should incentivize the future, not protect the past

Former Secretary of State and current presidential candidate Hillary Clinton recently declared at The New School for Social Research in New York, that we need to “build those faster broadband networks and make sure there’s a greater diversity of providers so consumers have more choice.” 

Broadband competition is important, whether you are running for president or running a small business. 

{mosads}The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering new rules on how certain Internet providers can retire old copper telephone networks and deploy new fiber networks. Under the current system, companies operating old copper networks have to go through a series of regulatory hoops to retire those networks and invest in new high-speed broadband networks.

This is the best opportunity the FCC has had in years to give Internet providers the flexibility to grow. By removing legacy regulations, the agency can foster more competition for broadband as Internet providers can more easily retire their old networks and deploy faster and more reliable networks. Removing the old rules will give Internet providers the financial flexibility they need to invest in the build-out of new fiber networks. 

Lightning-fast fiber networks are more versatile than ever before, and compatible with the newest technologies as they emerge. Fiber can offer all of the voice, video, and data services as the old networks, but at faster speeds with clearer transmission and better reliability. 

But without reform from the FCC, small businesses and consumers will be left with fewer choices for broadband. Unlike cable companies, some Internet providers are at a huge disadvantage because they’re forced – by the FCC’s legacy regulations – to maintain two networks: the old copper telephone network and new fiber networks. 

As traditional cable, satellite, and phone companies have evolved, many have begun offering virtually the same data, audio, and video services to consumers, allowing them to compete across all platforms for a bigger piece of the larger market share. This type of competition is also occurring throughout the Internet ecosystem as Internet Service Providers, device manufacturers, apps developers, operating software companies, e‐commerce outlets, and search engines are all simultaneously cooperating and competing by supplying and buying from each other.

This growing interdependence serves as a testament to the unpredictability of the Internet ecosystem, and helps us understand why it’s shortsighted for the FCC to impose old legacy regulations on such a dynamic market. The FCC is contemplating keeping these old legacy rules simply to protect outdated business models that rely on old copper networks.  

Instead of protecting old business models and preserving outdated technology, the FCC should be looking at ways to incentivize more build-out of faster and more robust broadband networks.   

The FCC has the opportunity to infuse more competition by allowing Internet providers to invest in new high speed networks without the regulatory burden of maintaining old copper networks. If we truly want greater diversity of Internet providers so consumers can have more choice, then we need rules that incentivize competition, not rules preserving old networks.  

Hopefully, a majority of the FCC Commissioners will agree with Clinton’s vision for the future of Internet access and understand that legacy regulations stand as a barrier to competition. 

The possibilities for what future technologies may offer us are endless, and laying the groundwork now for the expansion of next-generation networks is critical to cultivating the innovation needed to get us there.

Kerrigan is president & CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.