Public Policies 1

Broadband Policy and Telecommunication Regulation

Positive and Negative effects on Information Technology

Lolita K. Jackson

Global Information Technology Management, Section 1

Professor Alan Breitler
May 8, 2010
 Public Policies 2

Broadband Policy and Telecommunication Regulation

Positive and Negative effects on Information Technology

The world of telecommunications has come a long way since the days of your normal everyday
telephone. We can now communicate via the internet, wireless phones, and electronic mail. With the
development of these new technologies, the government had to put policies in place to maintain control
as well as promote affordability to consumers. Congress charged the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) last year with developing a national broadband plan designed to provide affordable
and accessible broadband service. Among the stated goals of this mission was advancing the public
interest in “consumer welfare, civic participation, public safety and homeland security, community
development, health care delivery, energy independence and efficiency, education, worker training,
private sector investment, entrepreneurial activity, job creation and economic growth, and other
national purposes.”[ CITATION Wes10 \l 1033 ]. This plan is a 376 page document which contains a
strategy to provide innovation in areas such as health care, utilities, safety, and entertainment just to
name a few. [ CITATION Dar10 \l 1033 ]. This plan will have a positive impact on Information
technology in that it will establish competition policies for network services, devices, applications, and
content; ensuring the efficient allocation of public assets, including spectrum; creating incentives for
universal adoption and the availability of broadband; and updating various policies to further key
national priorities. [ CITATION Dar10 \l 1033 ]. The FCC‘s plan is to increase information availability
by driving down broadband pricing and increasing market competition, which will all affect the
information technology industry in a positive way. As long as consumers are purchasing the product,
this provides more revenue to the industry. More jobs will be available thereby improving the economy
as well.

In an influential article Key Lawmakers back FCC on Broadband policy, Representative Henry Waxman
and Senator John Rockefeller said the Federal Communications Commission should also consider short-
term options, including a controversial idea to reclassify broadband under a stricter regulatory regime
but at the same time apply "a light regulatory touch."The lawmakers said in a letter to the FCC that it is
vitally important that the agency be empowered to move forward with its National Broadband Plan,
unveiled earlier this year.[ CITATION Reu10 \l 1033 ]. For weeks the FCC has been deliberating on
how to proceed with this plan, because they are trying to promote legal action on the part of the larger
telecommunication and cable providers. The letter that they received from the congressional leaders
just may be the extra push they needed to make a final decision. The FCC's broadband plan would
upgrade Internet access for all Americans and shift spectrum from television broadcasters to wireless
carriers with burgeoning smart phone products. It also would try to safeguard consumer privacy, provide
consumers with complete and accurate information about broadband services and protect an open
Internet.[ CITATION Reu10 \l 1033 ]. For consumer this policy is great however it forces broadband
providers to have to abide by the telecommunications regulation a policy which is a bit stricter that the
current policies to which they abide.
 Public Policies 3

Broadband Policy and Telecommunication Regulation

Positive and Negative effects on Information Technology