FSF Reply Comments – State of Competition in the Communications Marketplace

The Commission Should Remove Regulatory Barriers to Entry and Expansion of Broadband Services The RAY BAUM's Act requires the FCC, in preparing its report on the state of competition in the communications marketplace, to "assess whether laws, regulations, regulatory practices" of the federal, state, local, and tribal governments or demonstrated market practices "pose a barrier to competitive entry. [...] The Commission Should Increase Access to Spectrum and Flexible Use The Commission has long recognized that "[a]ccess to spectrum is perhaps the most important input for the provision of mobile wireless services."4 In light of the fact that "[a] larger spectrum supply will enable more competitors to service more Americans with next-gen services," the Free State Foundation's initial comments recomme. [...] The Commission Should Remove Local Regulatory Barriers to Infrastructure Deployment The Free State Foundation's initial comments recommended that the Commission apply to wireline infrastructure in state and local rights-of-way the same type of shot clocks and fee caps that the agency adopted for small cell deployment.13 Thus, we agree with commenters who 5 Comments of the Free State Foundation, GN. [...] Absent the proffering of clear and convincing evidence demonstrating noncompetitive conditions and consumer harm, the Commission would grant relief to the service provider from the regulation under review, or at least modify its application as the evidence warrants. [...] To the extent that it has delegated authority to do so, the Commission also ought to eliminate its program access and carriage requirements, or at least modify them to make them less intrusive and more reliant on market competition.25 21 Public Notice: Office of Economics and Analytics Seeks Comment on the State of Competition in the Communications Marketplace, GN Docket No.