October 11, 2016
The Progressive Policy Institute has released its annual “Investment Heroes” report on the top 25 companies putting dollars in America, and once again the telecom/cable sector topped the list with a combined capex investment of more than $48 billion.
That’s the good news. The not-so-good news is that investment from the telecom/cable sector was actually down compared to previous years. From the report:
AT&T and Verizon invested large sums to maintain and expand their networks again this year. However, according to our estimates, AT&T’s capital expenditure was down by 11.6 percent as compared to the previous year.
While this is undoubtedly due to a number of factors, uncertainty about the FCC’s direction — namely, Title II regulation of the internet ecosystem — surely played a big role, especially from telecom companies like AT&T and Verizon. As IIA wrote in a 2014 filing with the FCC:
The continued success — and the future innovation — of our current Internet ecosystem… is seriously threatened by the proposal to reclassify broadband Internet access services under Title II. Indeed, it is hard to think of an action that would pose a greater threat to innovation and continued growth of the Internet than the proposal to reverse existing and sound precedent by reclassifying broadband Internet access under Title II of the Act.
Given the FCC’s Title II reclassification is just over a year old, it’s too early for a full picture of its impact on continuing investment. But these numbers from the Progressive Policy Institute hint at what could certainly become a trend in the coming years. Let’s hope all of us who warned the Commission about reduced investment are proven wrong.