| Contact: | Timothy Lee or Jeff Mazzella (703-535-5836) |
Free-Market Organizations to FCC: Price Controls for "Special Access" Services = Bad Public Policy
ALEXANDRIA, VA —
In a letter sent today to each commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and key Members of Congress, 16 state and national free-market organizations expressed opposition to government-mandated price controls in the broadband enterprise marketplace, including special access services. The organizations warned that such a move would constitute an "abject policy failure" that would stifle investment in the vital broadband marketplace.
The letter was sent amid calls for the FCC to significantly regulate pricing for special access services, and on the same day that the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet is holding a hearing on the issue. Voices favoring the price controls claim there is not enough competition in the marketplace.
But as the organizations point out in the letter, "The Commission's deregulatory, pro-competition policies have yielded positive results for business customers. A 2006 GAO study on Special Access found that prices are declining in all of the areas studied. Claims that deregulation have led to less competition and higher prices are simply false. There is no evidence of market failure and no reason to return to price controls."
"Nearly a decade's worth of deregulation at the FCC has sparked an unprecedented amount of investment and innovation," said Jeffrey Mazzella, President of the Center for Individual Freedom. "The fact that the FCC is even considering a return to price controls is ludicrous."
The letter was spearheaded by the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF), a constitutional and free-market advocacy organization with more than 250,000 activists and supporters nationwide. In addition to CFIF, organizations that signed the letter include: Americans for Tax Reform, Citizens Against Government Waste, Competitive Enterprise Institute, National Taxpayers Union, National Black Chamber of Commerce, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, 60 Plus Association, Citizen Outreach, National Grange, Taxpayers League of Minnesota, RightMarch.com and Media Freedom Project.