Governments must abandon regulatory policies that may have been suitable in an era of monopoly-provided voice telephone service, but that are inappropriate for the new era. Telecommunications and computer technologies are converging, and many different industries are offering new products and new services in direct competition with one another without regard to previous lines of demarcation. For everyone to benefit from these products and services, world-class competitive firms must be free to provide customers all over the world with the best and most affordable network computing products and services, and government must grant them this competitive freedom. For those persons left unserved by competition, governments must be prepared to fund programs that facilitate universal access while taking care to preserve the competitive market, which serves most citizens. Business, in turn, has a responsibility to make products that are affordable and easy to use, and it also has a responsibility to support public programs that promote access for all people.
Public education deserves particular emphasis.