During a speech at a broadband policy conference here, Kneuer said continuing the moratorium would enable companies to recoup their investments in high-speed Internet infrastructure without facing "legacy" regulations.

Kneuer also rejected the view that the broadband marketplace is dominated by a telecom-cable duopoly, instead arguing that emerging technologies such as broadband over power lines will ensure multiple "pipes" into homes.

He painted a rosy picture of domestic broadband adoption, a theme struck at the same event Thursday by Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell. Kneuer said total U.S. broadband lines have grown 2,246 percent in 5.5 years -- from 2.8 million on Dec. 31, 1999, to 64.6 million on June 30, 2006.

The optimistic outlook of Kneuer and McDowell is in stark contrast to concerns raised by Democratic FCC regulators and lawmakers in recent months that America is falling behind other industrialized nations in per-capita subscribers.

Echoing McDowell on another theme, Kneuer questioned the accuracy of worldwide broadband rankings compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that cast the United States unfavorably. He warned that the findings create "disincentives" for developing countries to model their broadband policies after the United States.

Kneuer said NTIA is working with the OECD to ensure that its rankings fully reflect Internet usage here. Consumer and market forces, he emphasized, are a more effective regulator than the government.

Discussing wireless issues, Kneuer coined the term "tech neutrality" to describe the need for licensees to be sheltered from regulations that might prohibit carriers from adopting new mobile technologies. "I don't think we give enough credit to the wireless platform as a competitor to the wireline systems," he added.

Regarding telecom networks run by municipalities, Kneuer said, "If you're going to put public capital in competition with private capital, you ought to have a really good reason to do that." Noting that some municipal networks have not met expectations, he emphasized that if localities decide to offer communications, they should not receive special regulatory treatment.

On a related note, NTIA on Friday issued a report encouraging emergency responders to consider teaming with commercial carriers to construct a nationwide emergency network. Public-private partnerships are being considered by the FCC for spectrum in the 700-megahertz band to be relinquished by analog television broadcasters as they transition to digital signals.