April 11, 2025
We spend a lot of time talking about the future — of AI, of the nation’s economic competitiveness, of closing the digital divide. But too often, we’re forced to try and build that future on a foundation of regulations designed for a different world.
The FCC’s “delete, delete, delete” initiative is a bold and necessary effort to slog through the decades-long accumulation of regulations to eliminate or update rules that have remained on the books long past their useful lifetimes.
Some are the stuff of comedy gold: vintage rules from the ’80s and ’90s requiring mandatory quarterly reports on payphone revenues (good luck finding one outside the Smithsonian), and edicts mandating public notices via physical fliers ‘at street level’ or in the local newspaper—things that have been more or less replaced by the internet.
But many more add up to serious consequences for the nation. Legacy rules force providers to maintain obsolete infrastructure no one uses, file outdated reports no one reads, and comply with paperwork requirements meant for a monopoly phone company in the 1980s, not the broadband-powered economy of 2025.
Across the country, broadband providers are investing billions to connect communities, upgrade infrastructure and deliver faster, more reliable internet. But the sheer cumulative weight of useless regulations is holding our nation back.
How big a drag is this accumulated detritus? We find it to be huge. That is why our filing recommends eliminating, streamlining, or reforming what amounts to roughly 3,000 rule provisions in urgent need of a dramatic glow-up or simple erasure.
It’s time to stop asking broadband providers to play by rules written for a dial tone — and build a regulatory framework that reflects the connected world we live in today. Together, we can ensure public policy is not just keeping up with innovation, but helping drive it forward.