24
January 2013
Past Event
The Impact of Data Caps and Other Forms of Usage-Based Pricing for Broadband Access:

The Impact of Data Caps and Other Forms of Usage-Based Pricing for Broadband Access:

Past Event
Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters
January 24, 2013
Default Event Image
24
January 2013
Past Event

1015 15th Street, N.W., 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Speakers:
Daniel Lyons

Assistant professor at Boston College Law School

harold_furchtgott_roth
Harold Furchtgott-Roth

Senior Fellow and Director, Center for the Economics of the Internet

Usage-based pricing has rapidly become one of the most controversial topics in Internet policy. Many broadband providers have been migrating from all-you-can-eat, flat-rate pricing to a variety of consumption-based pricing models. This trend has been most prominent in the wireless broadband sector, where monthly data limits were an almost inevitable solution to the surge in data demand unleashed by the smartphone and tablet revolution. Some fixed broadband providers have adopted much larger data caps for residential broadband use as well.

While regulators have generally approved this shift, some consumer groups have viewed the change with skepticism, fearing that usage-based pricing will usher in an era of higher prices, deteriorating service, and increasingly anticompetitive conduct. They are concerned that data caps serve as anticompetitive tools with which broadband providers can protect their legacy cable affiliates from upstarts such as Netflix and Hulu. They also fear that firms will use capacity constraints to create artificial scarcity and pad profits while avoiding necessary network upgrades.

Professor Daniel Lyons evaluated the public policy implications for usage-based pricing strategies. Professor Lyons is an assistant professor at Boston College Law School. He specializes in the areas of property, telecommunications and administrative law. Before joining the faculty, Professor Lyons practiced energy, telecommunications, and administrative law at the firm of Munger, Tolles and Olson in Los Angeles. He also clerked for the Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Hudson Senior Fellow Harold Furchtgott-Roth facilitated the discussion.

Related Events
23
October 2025
In-Person Event | Invite Only
The US in the South Caucasus: Mapping New Strategic Opportunities 
Featured Speakers:
Ilan Berman
Luke Coffey
Steve Daines
Michael Doran
Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim
Efgan Nifti
Joel Scanlon
: President Donald Trump, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sign a joint declaration at the White House in Washington DC, on August 8, 2025. (Getty Images)
23
October 2025
In-Person Event | Invite Only
The US in the South Caucasus: Mapping New Strategic Opportunities 

A keynote address by Senator Steve Daines (R-MT), to examine the implications of the recent Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement. 

: President Donald Trump, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sign a joint declaration at the White House in Washington DC, on August 8, 2025. (Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Ilan Berman
Luke Coffey
Steve Daines
Michael Doran
Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim
Efgan Nifti
Joel Scanlon
30
October 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
How Long Can Russia’s Weakening Economy Support Putin’s War on Ukraine?
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Volodymyr Lugovskyy
Dr. Anders Aslund
Thomas J. Duesterberg
Getty Images
30
October 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
How Long Can Russia’s Weakening Economy Support Putin’s War on Ukraine?

Join noted Russian and Ukrainian economists and Hudson Senior Fellow Thomas Duesterberg for an event that will analyze how growing economic problems are affecting Vladimir Putin’s war effort and its ability to avoid an economic crisis.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Volodymyr Lugovskyy
Dr. Anders Aslund
Thomas J. Duesterberg
03
November 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Congressman Rich McCormick on Securing American AI Leadership
Featured Speakers:
Congressman Rich McCormick
Jason Hsu
Representative Rich McCormick speaks during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on January 11, 2024. (Getty Images)
03
November 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Congressman Rich McCormick on Securing American AI Leadership

Senior Fellow Jason Hsu will host Congressman Rich McCormick (R-GA), a member of the House Armed Services Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee and a former member of the bipartisan Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, for a conversation on securing American AI leadership.

Representative Rich McCormick speaks during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on January 11, 2024. (Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Congressman Rich McCormick
Jason Hsu
04
November 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Bad Money: How America Can Solve Perpetual Inflation
Featured Speakers:
Brendan Brown
Alex J. Pollock
Moderator:
Harold Furchtgott-Roth
Getty Images
04
November 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Bad Money: How America Can Solve Perpetual Inflation

At Hudson, Senior Fellows Brendan Brown and Harold Furchtgott-Roth and Mises Institute Senior Fellow Alex Pollock will discuss the book’s findings and how gold-based monetary reform combined with the increased use of modern analytical tools can help end the inflationary spiral.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Brendan Brown
Alex J. Pollock
Moderator:
Harold Furchtgott-Roth