New Communications Policy Guide Available
Guide provides plain-English information on technology / telecom policy

Seattle - Washington Policy Center and the Institute for Policy Innovation today released a new policy guide focusing on telecommunications and emerging communications technology. The Communications Policy Guide gives lawmakers a broad overview of basic telecom policy regulations and methods to regulate responsibly to encourage innovation and competition.

The communications and technology industries are among the fastest growing, and fastest changing, industries in our state. Yet most of the regulatory framework that governs the telecom/technology sectors is outdated.

Regulations routinely fail to anticipate technological advances. No sooner did the monumental 1996 federal Telecommunications Act pass than it was rendered relatively obsolete by new technological improvements like Instant Messaging or Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). Never has there been a better example of the inability of law to keep pace with technology.

“In this age of technology convergence when traditional cable companies now offer telephone service, traditional phone service companies now offer video service, and cellular phone companies offering a bit of both, lawmakers are tasked with the difficult duty of balancing regulation with innovation,” said Carl Gipson, director of small business, technology and telecommunications for Washington Policy Center.

There is little doubt that the most efficient and consumer-friendly communications technologies are ones that operate in a lightly regulated environment – an environment that spurs innovation and competition.

This Communications Policy Guide explains in plain language the issues and opportunities that policymakers face in considering the future of the U.S. communications industry. It supplies legislators otherwise at the mercy of regulatory jargon with the tools to make intelligent, principled decisions. The Guide reflects a nonpartisan but distinctly free-market approach that, if followed, will lead to investment, job creation, and new products and services for consumers.

The Communications Policy Guide is available online or by calling 206-937-9691.