Research Questions About Terminating the PSTN

      Incumbent carrier initiatives to eliminate the PSTN and their carrier of last resort responsibilities may constitute on of the key evolving policy initiatives going forward. Here are some research questions worthy of investigation:

If consumers must migrate from POTS to a NGN (IP-centric) replacement, what are the net consequences in terms of consumers’ out of pocket costs, as well as network QOS, availability, reliability and  scalability? 

Can wireless networks accommodate the complete off loading of wireline traffic?  Would this offloading exacerbate spectrum  scarcity?

If incumbents continue to rely on wireline plant, e.g., U-verse, do they gain deregulation without conferring much upside consumer benefits?   For example most carriers offer unmetered (All You Can Eat") wireline service  at about $20 a month, but metered wireless service costs 2 or 3 times as much.
 

How would deregulation create incentives for carriers to migrate from copper to fiber media?

As many incumbents have eschewed POTS universal service funding, will they similarly avoid broadband subsidies tied to open network access requirements?

Will the migration remedy the digital divide, including areas with limited or no wireless service?

AT&T A Broadband Booster--Who Knew?

AT&T apparently has embraced broadband so much so that it wants out of the dial up, circuit switched telephone business. On it's face we could endorse this belated acknowledgement of a digital future. But no one seems to examine AT&T's motivations which surely lack altruism.

Let's remember that AT&T declined to submit applications for access to some of the $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus funds. To conserve capital, AT&T relies heavily on the copper twisted wire pair to support its current broadband U-Verse service. Now it wants to abandon the local loop---or mabe it's just wants Congress and the FCC to abandon regulation of the local loop.

I see AT&T's well publicized pitch as a gambit for deregulation, no longer based on easily disputed "statistics" about how competitive the telecommunications marketplace is, but now based on the need to expedite the migration from Plain Old Telephone Service ("POTS") to a completely digital broadband infrastructure. The company that won't seek broadband financial support--lest it have to commit to operating a neutral and open network--wants to rid itself of pesky government regulation which apparently has forced it by "regulatory takings," until now, to skim on broadband investment.

Let's briefly consider this deregulatory end game and the apparent lack of residual value in POTS. AT&T wants us to forget the current state of the marketplace, one that has both competitive and uncompetitive segments. But only with a forward looking, deregulatory approach can this nation acclerate the transition to our "digital destiny." How ironic that AT&T would prefer non monetary regulatory "reform" in lieu of direct subsidies.

Speaking of subsidies, recall that the U.S. government so worried about access to free to air broadcast television by 9% of the population that it offered two $40 vouchers for digital to analog converters and launched an aggressive and successful campaign to educate the masses on the DTV conversion. Dial up voice may have declined in both market penetration and revenues, but it won't drop to a 9% penetration any time soon.

So I'll reframe AT&T's ostensibly noble and futuristic campaign as nothing more than a new strand of a familiar gambit to remove government oversight while retaining government conferred benefits. If AT&T abandons its core public utility mission than it should relinquish all of the rights of way it got at below cost or zero expense. AT&T might also check with its tax counsel for advice on what it might lose when it exits the Title II common carrier safe harbor.