FCC Moves Toward DSL Deregulation
By David McGuire, Newsbytes
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A.,
14 Feb 2002, 11:50 AM CST
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today said it has tentatively concluded that broadband Internet access
provided over phone lines constitutes an "information service," and as such may not be subject to the open-access rules
that govern the nation's phone networks.
While the text of today's "notice of proposed rulemaking" probably won't be made publicly available for a couple days,
the FCC signaled that it intends to remove some of the regulatory fetters that dictate how the nation's four Bell phone
giants offer broadband services.
"It is time, in my opinion for fewer words and more action," FCC Chairman Michael Powell said at today's FCC meeting.
"With today's decision, we have stopped talking and started acting."
Should the FCC reclassify digital subscriber lines (DSL) as an information service as opposed to a traditional wire-line
service, it could effectively loosen federal rules that require Bell companies and other incumbent carriers to offer their
competitors equal access to the telecommunications networks they control.
"Today they approved the Internet Monopoly Act of 2002," Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) Executive Director Jeff
Chester said following the meeting.
Powell and the commission have set in motion a policy shift that could allow the Bells to monopolize DSL
service, Chester said.
"Michael Powell ... sees a cornucopia of broadband delivery systems. I think what he sees is a mirage and he's creating
policy based on that mirage," Chester said.
But Powell today reiterated his opinion that all broadband platforms - cable, wireless, satellite and DSL - should be
considered when crafting broadband policy.
"It's important to conceptualize broadband broadly," Powell told reporters following today's meeting.
At a congressional event on Wednesday, Powell said that the FCC was not attempting through its rulemaking to preempt
an upcoming House of Representatives vote that also aims to loosen regulatory restrictions on the Bells.
"A lot of people assume that these things are 'in parentis'," Powell said. "We think these matters are pressing enough that
we need to get these proceedings under way."
Later this month, the House of Representatives will vote on the hotly debated Tauzin-Dingell broadband deregulation bill,
which would allow Bells to offer broadband data services regardless of whether they open their local phone networks to
competition.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 currently requires incumbents such as the Bells to prove that they have opened their
historical local monopolies to competition before they offer any long-distance services.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who opposed today's decision to publish the proposed rule, said he believed that
the agency was going too far down the road toward setting competition policy.
"I fear we are out-driving the range of our headlights," Copps said. "We are not ready to go as far as this notice takes us." |
