The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board's Faulty Memory

             You would think the Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal would remember what it wrote about network neutrality. In its April 24th diatribe against network neutrality regulation,

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fcc-net-neutrality-jessica-rosenworcel-biden-administration-internet-b427c825?mod=opinion_feat1_editorials_pos1; the Board appears has forgotten how it spread the gospel that classifying Internet access as telecommunications service, subject to streamlined regulation, would stifle investment, innovation, and employment in the wireless industry. No 5G, no billion-dollar acquisitions, and nothing but stagnation in an industry otherwise considered quite dynamic and robust.

             The Editorial Board joined a large cast of characters, including former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, and gobs of “coin-operated” sponsored researchers, in ignoring a basic tenant in high tech finance: Research and development, as well as capital expenditures in next generation service, trump any regulatory initiative, no matter how misguided.

             The Editorial Board also lost track of where U.S. wireless carriers operate along a technology curve in any given year.  High investment occurs when competitive necessity requires carriers to install next generation equipment, followed by far less investment once the new plant becomes operational.

             Wireless carriers cannot afford to punish overzealous regulators with skimpy investment at the onset of next generation service, nor do they overinvest simply because a more lenient and favorable regulatory environment exists, soon after a high point in new technology deployment.

             The Editorial Board also seems to have forgotten the initiatives by much loved fellow conservatives to require content neutrality by liberal and biased Internet Service Providers.  Some of the Journal’s best buddies urged Congress to mandate common carriage regulation of the Internet.