Telecom Regulation

The telecommunications sector is dynamic. Markets and technologies continue to evolve rapidly, but communications policy has not kept pace. The policymaking landscape is encumbered not just with outdated rules and regulations, but also with the same outdated thinking that produced those policies in the first place.

The traditional premises for regulation—a lack of competition and a perceived need to ensure universal service—are vanishing, if not already gone. Telecommunications can be accessed across the nation, and the market for communications services has grown increasingly competitive with each passing year. Placing all telecommunications providers on the same, deregulated playing field should be at the heart of telecommunications policy.