US Congress: Convergence Could Be End of Regulation

ITworld.com - Lawmakers: Convergence could be end of regulation

The latest session in the US Congress into the failures - and potential redrafting - of the 1996 Telecommunications Act has heard evidence that suggests that new legislation would be outmoded before the ink is dry.

After hearing testimony from a number of telecom companies, Representative Christopher Cox, a California Republican, questioned if regulations created by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) were needed at all. Cox didn’t advocate abolishing the FCC, but he mentioned a 1997 book by lawyer Peter Huber that did suggest the agency was no longer needed.

Wireless, telecom, satellite and Internet companies are starting to compete with each other, and a rewrite of the ‘96 act may not be necessary, Cox said. “This seems to be the competition we’ve all sought for a long time, so perhaps we should declare victory,” he said. “Possibly what we’ll learn today is that retirement (of the law) is a better option.”