From the WSJ:
“Even with the credit crisis, the telecommunications industry is in better shape than it has ever been in. It is now competitive, relatively flush with subscribers and strategic options….“You’re not seeing the same liquidity issues and hue and cry coming out of the telecom industry that you’re seeing out of other industries,” Seidenberg [...]

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Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) came under fire for making a ruling that many consider outside its authority. Without levying a fine, it charged that Comcast violated federal policy when it interfered with a file-sharing application used by consumers. This new plot twist in the Net neutrality story should remind everyone that when [...]

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At last week’s UCLA Technology & Aging Conference, representatives from Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Toyota and other big-name firms discussed how technology is reshaping lifestyles for older individuals. However, important policy implications directly connected to these new tools went unspoken.
RFID (radio frequency identification) tags that can monitor the status of older individuals, face-recognition video systems that [...]

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Many telecom observers were stunned this week when Verizon announced it would open up its network to “wireless devices, software and applications not offered by the company.” This change in policy is good for consumers and worth closer examination, especially on the business side.
Verizon’s “walled garden” required consumers to use a Verizon-chosen phone in order [...]

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Looks like Eurocrats want to put price caps on text messaging.

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For years, PRI has been warning San Francisco officials that their so-called “free Wi-Fi” idea was guaranteed to be a failure. Finally, they realize it. In late August, Earthlink pulled out of a misguided plan to supply the city with free Wi-Fi, saying it was no longer economically viable for the company. This [...]

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Those who care about free speech should consider why government taxes are higher on communications than on other goods and services. This new study by The Heartland Institute and the Beacon Hill Institute is eye opening.
Here’s a paragraph from the study:
According to the Tax Foundation, the national average retail sales tax rate (combining local, county, [...]

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Here’s a column I wrote recently on the connection between the two.

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Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle today announced a citywide wireless service coverage initiative to ensure all major cellular phone companies are able to provide full coverage through Anaheim’s 50 square miles. This is in contrast to other cities like San Francisco and Philadelphia that prefer to stifle competoition by only granting city-wide access to a [...]

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The Pacific Research Institute just published a paper I coauthored on Municipal networks. The study, titled “Wi-Fi Waste: The Disaster of Municipal Communications Networks” reviewed 52 city-run telecom networks that compete in the cable, broadband, and telephone markets. The amount of deception and anti-competitive activity that we found in our sample [...]

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That’s the word from Dr. John Rutledge, one of the nation’s most accomplished economists who has advised several presidents (including the current administration). He’s been spending a lot of time in China recently and has first hand knowledge of how America is doing compared to the rest of the world. His recent blog [...]

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Shopping is normally good for the economy, but not when the shoppers are net neutrality advocates looking for friendly deals on a regulatory forum. Policy makers in Michigan, their current target, should tell pro-regulatory activists to go home, with good reason.Those who support net neutrality legislation frame themselves as proponents of the Net, but in [...]

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Today, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the appointment of Ellis Berns, Rachelle Chong, William Geppert, Charles Giancarlo, Paul Hernandez, William Huber, Christine Kehoe, Wendy Lazarus, Lloyd Levine, Michael Liang, Bryan Martin, Timothy McCallion, Sunne Wright McPeak, Milo Medin, Peter Pardee, Peter Pennekamp, Debra Richardson, Rollin Richmond, Larry Smarr, Jonathan Taplin and Emy Tseng to the Broadband [...]

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This week, a key federal official cautioned against calls for net neutrality, the effort to expand government reach in the Internet marketplace. It’s a wise move to keep the Internet free of red tape. So why are lobbyists pushing for new rules?
Net neutrality holds that Internet network providers such as AT&T and Verizon should remain [...]

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Last month, the U.S. Treasury Department announced the end of the ancient federal excise tax (FET) on long-distance telephone bills. Consumers should be wary of this seemingly positive development, as cash-strapped bureaucrats now press forward with plans for new technology taxes, threatening innovation.
One of the most ambitious schemes is the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP), [...]

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This week, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee approved the Communications, Consumer Choice and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006, sponsored by Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii). If passed by the full Congress, this massive telecom bill will bring consumers significant benefits, especially long overdue cable franchise reform.
New technologies have made it possible for [...]

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Broadband adoption in American homes grew by 40 percent in the last year, twice the growth rate of the year before, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. That’s good news that should be followed by more good news if technology is allowed to move forward, unfettered by heavy government regulations.
Broadband adoption among [...]

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At least six bills before Congress deal with an issue that leaves many confused and involves a lot of money, constant spin doctoring, and now Hillary Clinton. No, we’re not talking about HillaryCare redux or Whitewater, but “Net neutrality,” a concept being used to trick Americans into accepting regulation of the Internet.
Supporters say Net [...]

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PRI’s Lloyd Billingsley writes an excellent piece on video choice and education. The key question he asks is why California’s left-leaning democrats think competition is good in cable, but not for education. Here’s an excerpt:
Speaker Nunez is right that we need more choice, quality and lower prices in television service. If he follows that logic, [...]

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Getting cheaper and better cable services to consumers has been difficult because the laws governing the sector have proved tough to change. This week, officials in two states announced key decisions that may significantly change the terms of the debate. Both announcements involve cable franchise reform.
That’s the issue that’s been frustrating telecom companies and threatening [...]

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