Should States Stop Regulating Telephones?

Land line use in the United States continues to decline as more households are going “wireless” and relying exclusively on their cell phones. About 17 percent of Pennsylvania households fall into this category.

Telephone regulations are extremely complicated and were designed for an era with little competition. New wireless products are regulated exclusively by the federal government, not by states.

All this has many states questioning whether they should continue to spend precious time and resources regulating land-line phones. More than 20 states have abandoned strict telecommunications regulation, and this year Florida, New Jersey, Texas and Wisconsin have debated the issue.

Pennsylvania’s costly and complex telecommunication regulations were a focus of our recent streamlining government report.