The second edition of “Digital Crossroads” is available...
The second edition of “Digital Crossroads” is available for pre-order on Amazon (http://amzn.to/10uNBrc). Its authors, Dean Philip Weiser of the University of Colorado Law School, and Wilmer Hale partner Jonathan Nuechterlein, spoke at the American Enterprise Institute Tuesday (http://bit.ly/10uO90g) on…
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changes they made for the new edition of their book, first published in 2004. The authors limited the amount of time spent discussing the increasingly “antiquated” and “obsolete” Telecom Act of 1996, they said, and gave considerable focus to the IP transition and the spectrum issues. Weiser gave the FCC credit for reorienting the USF program to focus on broadband, and on fixing the program to stop producing new wireless carriers in areas that already had wireless service. The big challenge, Weiser said, is whether it’s economical to keep wireline connections in areas that are more remote, he said. Any decision to let go of legacy networks is “one of the painful implementation challenges” the industry will face, he said. In the IP transition, the FCC will have a big role ensuring non-economic, social policy objectives are met, Nuechterlein said. “I am much more skeptical” about the FCC’s role in economic issues such as the need for price regulation, interconnection and leasing obligations, he said.