'96 Telecom Act Writer Urges Overhaul
Rick Boucher, honorary chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance and one of the architects of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, released his recommendations on modernizing communications industry regulation. Boucher served for 28 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he chaired the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet.
"Since 1996, the way in which consumers receive communications services of all kinds has dramatically transformed," Boucher said in a statement. "Today's laws severely lag technological and marketplace advancements - comprehensive statutory telecommunications reform for the 21st Century is vital."
In addition to setting a sunset date for the PSTN in favor of an IP system, Boucher recommends the following legislative reforms:
- Recognize the role of broadband networks in modern communications and the need for deregulatory parity among similarly situated broadband service providers
- Reaffirm the current light-touch regulatory approach to broadband
- Realign the FCC's regulatory structure to match current marketplace and technological realities
- Eliminate duplicative or unnecessary functions at the FCC, including its duplication of the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission's role in reviewing communications merger transactions
- Enable the near-term reallocation of government-held spectrum for commercial auction
- Facilitate secondary market transactions among spectrum holders