All I can say is, “Wow! I never expected that!” I thought the days of telecommunications being considered a public utility were far behind us. Then came the pandemic! Suddenly broadband seems as important as electricity. And some people believe that hands-on, utility style regulation will do a better job than competition for delivering needed broadband to everyone. I don’t know whether to think of this as Back to the Future or Deja Vu.

Dr. Scott Wallsten joined Next Practices Live to talk about this very issue. Scott is President and Senior Fellow at the Technology Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. He was the economics director for the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, served as an economist for The World Bank, and as a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. His thoughtful blog on this issue caught my eye, so I wanted you all to hear from him. You can read his blog online.