FCC Sees Telecom Competition Reducing Need For Direct Regulation
AUG 12,1999
By Alan Yonan Jr., Staff Reporter
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The overriding goal of the Federal Communications
Commission during the next five years will be to encourage competition in the
telecommunications marketplace to "greatly reduce" the need for direct
regulation, Chairman William Kennard said in a report to Congress.
The period will be one of transition as new technologies continue to erode
the traditional regulatory distinctions between different sectors of the
telecommunications industry, Kennard said in a draft of the agency's strategic
plan. "As a result, over the next five years, the FCC must wisely manage the
transition from an industry regulator to a market facilitator," Kennard said.
One of the keys to promoting domestic competition will be to continue
pushing for open markets abroad, according to the plan. "Market access
restrictions in foreign countries significantly impede U.S. companies' ability
to compete on a global scale," Kennard said. "Specifically, our vision of fully
competitive communications markets in the United States in five years is
contingent to some degree on whether other nations also establish the necessary
conditions for deregulation," he added.
The FCC will work closely with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative,
and the Commerce and State departments to ensure vigorous enforcement of the
market-access commitments set forth in the 1997 World Trade Organization
Agreement on Basic Telecommunications Service, he said.
As the FCC goes through its transition, the mix of skills needed at the
agency will change, according to the report. That will require a number of
human-resource initiatives, including job retraining, incentive packages for
"high-quality" employees, and voluntary buyouts for others.
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