To stimulate innovation in communications, we must organize the industry to promote competition and reduce barriers to entry. It should be easier to prove that a new idea is good by deploying it. Where we are. This follows the model of public utilities, which were forced to build specialized distribution systems and hence are regarded as natural monopolies and tend to be vertically integrated. In contrast, the rest of the US economy is competitive.
Firms usually specialize rather than being vertically integrated.
Where we want to be. Communications is the distribution system for information, just as roads, trains, and airplanes are for physical goods. To facilitate innovation, communications must become a normal competitive industry, like roads or publishing and unlike today's telephony or cable television. A new service doesn't have to develop its own distribution system, and therefore faces lower barriers to entry. What makes this possible.