 actively with cable television systems and a variety of wireless and satellite services. Because these services have developed over facilities orig- inally designed to carry other communications services, they could be and in some cases are subject to regulation under different provisions of the Telecommunications Act. Recently the FCC decided that cable modem ser- vice is an "interstate information service" and therefore should be under the FCC's jurisdiction, but this decision has already been overturned by a fed- eral appeals court. The FCC is also contemplating the appropriate approach to regulating fixed-wire broadband services, including DSL, but it has been very slow in developing such a policy. 31 In addition, the sudden emergence of VoIP services has forced the FCC to begin considering whether such ser- vices are subject to the wide range of rules and charges that currently bur- den ordinary voice services. 32 The First Eight Years under the New Law Through a welter of different proceedings, the commission could exercise "forbearance" from regulating any of these services under Section 706 of the act. Unfortunately, it has been examining these options for more than two years without reaching any decision on whether to regulate cable modem service or to forbear from regulating any of these "advanced" services, allow- ing the market to drive technology, facilities deployment, and the pricing of the services. The uncertainty this has created is surely affecting the willing- ness of carriers to deploy the capital required to deliver these new services and thereby expand industry revenues. Conclusion Virtually every developed country in the world has suffered a telecom boom-bust cycle in recent years. The exaggerated expectations created by the Internet and general IT revolution were met with stark reality in Europe, Asia, and Oceania in 2000-02 when stock market valuations plunged from the unprecedented heights of 1998-2000. With capital spending in sharp decline, most telecom equipment suppliers had diffi-