New FCC Review Committee

A recent article from DSL Reports could mean good or bad things for the future of broadband deployment. Obama has pegged two long term net nuetrality advocates to head up his FCC (Federal Communications Commision) Review Committee. Kevin Werbach a former FCC staffer and Susan Crawford a University of Michigan Law professor.  I cannot argue that the FCC needs to be over hauled, they have controlled the air waves like a tyrant for many, many years (in the future this may prove to be a good thing). They both have argued that broadband proliferation in the US has been dismal, making it too hard for some to get highspeed connectivity (I have to agree with this, as I have to use Satellite connectivity combined with a Verizon wireless card to get on the internet because I live 3 miles from the DSL termination point in my area).

What worries me is that they both push that internet connectivity should be classed as a utility not as a commercial service. This makes sense in some aspects, but with that governance, companies may move even slower to push services out to the rural areas in fear of loss of profits. This type of governance usually means additional taxes along with the utility (look at your phone bill for an example of that).   Government regulated utilities or services normally move slower than a free market service and at times make things more difficult for the consumer. A good example of how they have made things more difficult is as follows:

I live in an area where I cannot get cable tv. On a clear night I can receive 3 channels through an "over the air" antenna to get the free channels normally I only get 2 reliably. I opted for satellite TV from Dish Network, which offers the normally free Network channels through their service, but because of government regulations for utilities Dish Network has to get "permission" from the local Network providers to deliver the service to my location. Since I live in a certain radius of the local Network towers, even though I cannot reliably receive the signal from my antenna that is mounted 25 feet over my second story roof, the local networks will not give Dish Network permission to deliver the signal to my location.    

I can hope that the new committee will bring good things to me, because of my previous experiences with government regulated utilities I am not going to hold my breath.
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