Leadership must support innovation with fresh policy

Thirty years ago, it took the federally mandated breakup of the national telephone monopoly to allow the nascent telecommunications industry to bloom. There is a certain irony in companies that would not even exist without that sharp shock to the system now asking the Federal Communications Commission to erect monopolistic barriers to upstart Internet companies playing on another field that needs leveling.

The law of the economic universe that says bigger is better for stockholders but not for innovation is obvious. For example, brand-new figures from UK-based Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) show the number of people using mobile devices to pay for…