Today, the Federal Trade Commission’s Internet Access Task Force issued its report titled “Broadband Connectively Competition Policy.� The report can be found in its entirety here.

The report is an exhaustive summary of the debate over whether we should regulate the Internet by an agency whose mission is protecting competition and maximizing consumer welfare. One major contribution of the report is that it brings economic analysis to bear on the debate.

There are a couple major points to the report. First, after two days of public hearings and countless pages of comments, there is still no evidence of “market failure or demonstrated harm� to consumers. In the land of hypothetical harms, what need is there for real world rules?

Second, the FTC subjected all the hypothetical allegations of how putting intelligence into the broadband network might harm consumers to some economic analysis. The conclusion: these practices may lower barriers to entry, increase innovation and make consumers and content and application providers better off, or, in certain circumstances, they might not. The FTC (and the FCC and DOJ for that matter) are ready to step in where some practice may actually harm consumers and competition. Until then, the report concludes we shouldn’t outlaw Internet innovation before it happens.

Finally, after study and economic analysis, the report concludes that broadband choices are expanding and prices are falling – hallmarks of a competitive market.

Walter McCormick, CEO of USTelecom released a statement on the report explaining that consumers have “a variety of competitive choices from cable, DSL, wireless, satellite and other alternative providers for high-speed Internet services, and there is no problem that requires regulation of the Internet.� Mr. McCormick applauded the FTC’s thorough analysis and commitment to ensuring that consumers continue to have access to a robust marketplace.

Please share your thoughts and comments on the FTC report by posting a comment below.

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