Outdated rules restrict telecom

When you think of telecom, the word "outdated" doesn't exactly spring to mind.

New devices, services and package deals hit the market every day, and with each innovation, we are reminded anew that Americans have never had more options when it comes to how we communicate and who we get these services from.

Unfortunately, outdated regulations written before the use of the Internet as we know it now threaten to limit the choices and new services available to all of us.

By applying dramatically different rules to directly competing companies, regulatory favoritism is now holding back what should be a thriving communications marketplace driven by consumer choice.

While cable and wireless companies invest and compete freely, local telecommunications companies are mired in heavy, prescriptive rules written for a bygone era of one phone company, one choice.

With all the competition today, U.S.

telecom policy ought to provide consumers with the right to sort out the winners and losers in a competitive marketplace, rather than forcing the government to do this important task for them.

Who controls the pace and direction of American innovation regulators or consumers is an issue with far-reaching impact on the nation.

Telecom is one of the leading industries in the United States, producing jobs, driving economic growth and widely perceived to have great, untapped potential.

The more companies are permitted to compete head-to-head, the more access consumers will have to the innovative products and services they want from the companies they choose.

What is the public interest in continuing rules written for the old world? This question has yet to be answered.

But if we do our homework, we get a sense of the price tag of over-regulation.

According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the rules that force local telecoms to grant billions of dollars in corporate welfare to certain companies actually cost the average American household $100 each year.

Another study by the New Millennium Research Council says that simply allowing all broadband competitors to compete on an equal footing in a free marketplace could create 1.2 million U.S.

jobs over the next decade alone.

All it takes is true, market-driven competition between cable, wireless, satellite and local telecoms.

In a marketplace defined by technological change, who knows what the future will bring.

But one thing is certain: It is time for modern, even-handed and constructive rules that empower consumers and create an environment conducive to investment, innovation and economic growth.

We may not be able to predict the next big innovation.

But chances are it will be far more valuable and meaningful to our lives if it is shaped by the forward-looking decisions of consumers in the marketplace, rather than outdated policies frozen in time.

Tim Ruffin is managing partner of the Colliers International office in Reno.He also is senior vice president in the company's office properties group.