Cisco IP Traffic Forecast Reinforces Pai's Push for FCC Data Analysis, AEI Scholar Says

Cisco’s global IP traffic forecast shows the wisdom of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s bid to increase the agency’s use of data and economic analyses, American Enterprise Institute Center for Internet, Communications and Technology Policy Visiting Scholar Daniel Lyons blogged Monday. Pai proposed in April to launch an FCC Office of Economics and Data (see 1701310062 and 1704050047). Cisco forecast rising use of content delivery networks, smartphones and video streaming as drivers of IP traffic (see 1706080021), which shows “network congestion, which has largely disappeared from the public debate with the 4G revolution, may reemerge as a policy issue,” Lyons said. Pai is “correct to seek more data-driven policy recommendations" within the FCC, and the agency “should seek similar input from the engineers who actually run the networks and understand these trends in real time,” he said.