It makes them up as it goes along. The boom in Internet services offers a dramatic example of how a sector can flourish when it is free of excessive regulation. But the boom may be endangered if the FCC enacts some new rules now under consideration. Those rules may inadvertently expose Internet access to a wide range of regulations and restrictions, which in turn could threaten the Internet as we know it. But such an outcome is exactly the opposite of what the Telecommunications Act intended.
Deregulation is in the law.
All the FCC has to do is read it. But if it doesn't now, there is little reason to believe the FCC will observe any future deregulatory mandates, either. The FCC has made progress in the last three years to enact telecom reform. It's time to finish the job and to implement all of the Telecommunication Act's provisions and fulfill the promise of competition and deregulation. That shouldn't require a larger budget.