The Digital Broadband Migration: Rewriting The Telecom Act

February 13-14, 2005

Co-sponsored by the Association of Denver Telecommunications Professionals, the Federal Communications Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association Telecommunications Section, and the University of Colorado Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program

The transformation of telecommunications from an analog, narrowband network optimized for voice to a digital, broadband network optimized for data traffic has created a myriad of challenges for businesses, policymakers, and academics alike. In enacting the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress instituted a regulatory model based on the traditional technology used to deliver voice telephony-and largely did not grapple with the implications of the Internet. This failure, along with the challenges of reforming the legacy model of spectrum policy and "re-missioning" the Federal Communications Commission, have led many to suggest that it is time to re-write the Telecom Act.

This conference will examine the issues left largely unaddressed by the Telecom Act: how to grapple with the advent of broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP); how to reform spectrum policy; and how (and whether) the FCC can re-adjust its institutional mission. With a thoughtful array of leaders from academic, industry, and governmental circles, we believe that this conference will continue the Silicon Flatirons' tradition of encouraging "bolder thinking" in Boulder. Like its predecessors, the proceedings from this conference will be published in the Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law.

Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship | sf@colorado.edu

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