Alton Drew has an interesting post today at his Law and Politics of Broadband blog – his takeaways from a panel discussion he attended at Georgetown University on regulation and transition to Internet Protocol networks.  The panel focused on the relationship of an all IP network to economic development.  It’s all worth a read, but here is his net net:

“The FCC should take note of one thing, especially if they want to be true to their word about fostering economic growth, innovation, and employment: equity investors look at IP investment as a positive and are surprised that AT&T has not invested more especially at the low rates in the market.  (And Ben Bernanke and friends at the Federal Reserve are still keeping rates low.)  Again, the take away for the FCC: the greater the level of regulation, the less the incentive to invest.”