NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] [IP] Network Neutrality scares Wall Street
----- Forwarded message from David Farber <dave@farber.net> ----- Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2009 12:33:47 -0400 From: David Farber <dave@farber.net> Subject: [IP] Network Neutrality scares Wall Street Reply-To: dave@farber.net To: ip <ip@v2.listbox.com> Begin forwarded message: From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.net> Date: October 5, 2009 11:34:46 AM EDT To: "Dave Farber" <dave@farber.net>, "Ip ip" <ip@v2.listbox.com> Subject: Network Neutrality scares Wall Street Net Neutrality Scares Wall Street Multichannel News As the Federal Communications Commission tries to encourage private investment to quicken the overhaul of the nation's broadband infrastructure, Wall Street reminded the agency of the only big speed bump that would discourage such investment: Regulatory surprises. A number of high-powered investors representing more than $100 billion in collective buying power warned that overregulation or regulatory uncertainty would be a big turnoff to the capital investment needed an outlay the FCC has estimated at anywhere from $20 billion to $350 billion. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski acknowledged that such investment was a must. The agency needs to get a handle on the kind of regulatory environment that would spur investment by cable operators and telecom companies, he said. But Genachowski turned the broadband capital hearing over to Republican commissioner Robert McDowell, who has long cautioned that the wrong regulation or regulatory arbitrage the government picking winners and losers could hurt the broadband rollout. The chairman's announcement of his intention to expand and formalize network-neutrality principles came in for some criticism as one of the things that could hurt that investment. Christopher King, a telecom and cable analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, put it bluntly: "When you look at the telecom sector or the cable sector, one of the things that scares them to death is network neutrality to the extent that could stifle investment down the road." Extending network-neutrality rules to wireless carriers as Genachowski proposes is seen by investors as a "bait-and-switch" regulatory environment, said King, given that the FCC auctioned the 700-Megahertz band for billions of dollars, without signaling that it might impose access conditions on the winners after the fact. Thomas Aust, senior analyst with GE Asset Management which controls over $110 billion in assets, including the GE pension fund said another problem with network neutrality is that it could remove potential investor upside from a growing advertising sector. "Some of the more extreme discussions about network neutrality make me concerned about inhibitions on new services," said Aust. Continued at the bottom of the page at http://www.multichannel.com/article/356650-Cover_Story_More_Better_Faster.php ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ----- End forwarded message -----