Excessive regulatory intervention could delay the rollout of new broadband and wireless infrastructure in the U.S. as the economic crisis shakes telecommunication firms' investment plans, the outgoing chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has warned.
Kevin J. Martin, whose controversial eight-year term at the regulator saw a twentyfold expansion of broadband access and the release of spectrum for wireless Internet services, said he was worried about regulation going too far under the Barack Obama administration.
"There could be a more regulatory environment," he said. "If you come in with too much of an interventionist approach, you could . . . deter people from investing in the infrastructure."
The economic uncertainty facing companies "makes it even more important you don't reimpose an interventionist approach on infrastructure investment."
Democratic lawmakers allocated $6 billion in an $825-billion stimulus package unveiled Friday to extend broadband and wireless services to underserved areas of the country, saying the economy saw a tenfold return on every dollar invested in broadband.
Martin said the $5 billion currently spent each year to ensure remote areas had access to land-line telephone connections should be used to extend the same "universal service" to broadband.
The final weeks of Martin's four years as FCC chairman have been marred by proposals to delay the transition from analog to digital television, further clashes with the cable industry and a congressional rebuke of his leadership.
Martin argued against delaying the digital TV transition, scheduled for next month, saying that could confuse consumers.
But he warned that an overloaded voucher system to subsidize equipment for poorer households could require "hundreds of millions" of dollars in additional funding.
