Debatable Premises in Telecom Policy

Around the world, telecommunications policy is one of the most important areas of public policy. The modern economy is driven by telecom technologies, and many telecom-related firms – Google, Apple, Facebook, and myriad fixed and mobile Internet service providers – are among the largest companies in the world. The Internet is opening up new platforms for business, education, government, and civic engagement. It has literally been a driving force in toppling governments. Telecommunications policy is important to every government in the world, and debates over what policies should be implemented are heated in almost every country in the world.
Unfortunately, many of the arguments used in these debates – especially those supporting regulatory intervention – rest on faulty premises. These premises often follow from ideas that make intuitive sense – and that have great political valence – but that don‟t stand up well to critical analysis. This paper collects and responds to a number of these premises that, collectively, underlie much popular, political, and academic support for increased telecommunications regulation in the United States and Europe – as well as much of the rest of the world.