The Financial Times reports that excessive regulatory intervention could delay the roll-out of new broadband and wireless infrastructure in the US as the economic crisis shakes telecoms investment plans, the outgoing chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission has warned.

Kevin Martin, whose controversial eight-year term at the US media and communications regulator saw a 20-fold expansion of broadband access and the release of spectrum for wireless internet services, said he was worried about regulation going too far under the Obama administration.

“There could be a more regulatory environment,” he said. “If you come in with too much of an interventionist approach, you could ... deter people from investing in the infrastructure.”

The economic uncertainty facing companies “makes it even more important you don’t reimpose an interventionist approach on infrastructure investment”.

Democratic lawmakers allocated $6bn (€4.6bn, £4.1bn) in a $825bn stimulus package unveiled on Friday to extend broadband and wireless services to underserved areas of the country, saying the economy saw a 10-fold return on every dollar invested in broadband.

Mr Martin said the $5bn currently spent each year to ensure remote areas have access to landline telephone connections should be used to extend the same “universal service” to broadband.

The final weeks of Mr Martin’s four years as FCC chairman have been marred by proposals to delay the transition from analogue to digital television, further clashes with the cable industry and a congressional rebuke of his leadership.

Mr Martin argued against delaying the digital TV transition, originally scheduled for next month, saying this could confuse consumers.

But he warned that an overloaded voucher scheme to subsidise equipment for poorer households could require “hundreds of millions” in additional funding.