FCC embraces market-based solution for toll-free numbers

[Commentary] At first glance, tomorrow’s Open Meeting at the Federal Communications Commission seems rather mundane — particularly after last summer’s high-profile internet freedom proceeding. But hidden among the seven items on the agenda is an intriguing proposal to reform the way the Commission allocates toll-free numbers. While the issue is not as sexy as internet freedom, the proposal is intriguing because it embraces a market-based solution to a problem that has long vexed the agency — a solution that (in another context) Nobel laureate Ronald Coase suggested almost a half-century ago.

The Commission’s decision to adopt a market solution to the similar problem of allocating toll-free numbers shows how far it has moved in Coase’s direction. While more work remains to be done, market-oriented reforms have helped make the communications marketplace industry more efficient and more innovative, which ultimately benefits the American public. The toll-free number modernization proposal is another, momentous reform in the right direction.

[Daniel Lyons is an associate professor at Boston College Law School]