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07/01/2002
Washington Wire
In early May, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest Hollings (D-SC) introduced legislation that he says will facilitate residential broadband Internet services in areas of the country that otherwise miss out on the information superhighway. Hollings introduced his bill as a stark contrast to legislation passed in February in the House of Representatives.
The Hollings proposal would authorize $2 billion in loans to broadband providers - cable, satellite, fixed wireless, and telephone companies - for deployment of broadband facilities in rural and under-served areas. According to "Congressional Quarterly" (CQ) magazine, it would also authorize $500 million in loans to upgrade existing network facilities in rural and under-served areas, provided that local competitors to the Bells - BellSouth Corp., Qwest Commu-nications International, Inc., SBC Communications, Inc., and Verizon Communications -are guaranteed continued access. Further, the Hollings bill would authorize $1 billion in block grants to state and local governments for e-government and to stimulate broadband deployment. It also seeks to provide funds for research and development into achieving higher connection speeds, as well as funds for digitizing library and museum collections.
The House bill, sponsored by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and ranking Democrat John Dingell (D-MI), would loosen legal restrictions and requirements in the Telecommun-ications Act of 1996 on regional Bell telephone companies that provide broadband service through digital subscriber lines (DSL), which are mainly for homes and small businesses. According to CQ, the Bell companies: "now can offer advanced data products such as DSL within geographic zones called LATAs ("local access and transport areas") that were established by the 1984 divestiture of the Bell System. They roughly correspond to metropolitan areas. Internet traffic between LATA is carried by long-distance phone companies. The Bells want to carry traffic between LATAs in their service regions, just like independent competitors and cable companies. But they say they are held back by two provisions in the 1996 law, and argue that the rules were designed with traditional phone service in mind, not the Internet backbone. They add that the provisions make expanding their high-speed lines too expensive and risky."
The Tauzin-Dingell bill, proponents assert, deals with the regulatory regime of the 1996 law, and that all the players in this highly competitive arena should compete on the same terms and conditions. After all, they say, the law required the Bells to allow competitors to lease out pieces of their networks, effectively giving rivals access to individual lines or switches that could be used to deliver high-speed data services.
Similar legislation has been proposed on the Senate side by Senator John Breaux (D-LA) and Minority Whip Don Nickles (R-OK). Hollings, who says that the Bells don't need any help, and his cosponsors, Communications Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Appropriations Committee ranking Republican Ted Stevens (R-AK) oppose the competing measure.
At this writing, action has not yet been scheduled in Hollings’ committee.
Jim Goldwater is a Vice President at Bob Lawrence & Associates. For further information, he can be contacted at Bob Lawrence & Associates’ office at 345 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314. Tel: 703-836-6196; Fax: 703-836-6086; Email: jimauh2o@aol.com
A key function of NATE is the development of a unified industry voice on issues affecting tower erection, maintenance, and service work. Bob Lawrence & Associates serves as the marketing representative for NATE, working with members of Congress, OSHA officials, and others to advance NATE’s position in Washington, D.C.
Jim Goldwater
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