Hi, Mike - Fascinating reading on TLM these days.
I wonder if any anticipated steps taken by the FCC will ease the dilemma of many companies, some of which are on life support now. From here, it looks like the "foot-dragging" strategy has worked.
Remedies will take time to institute, never mind execute.
Anyway, WRT your post, the following...
Regards,
Jim
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FCC Blasted For Dragging Out Deregulation
(12/08/00, 6:47 p.m. ET) By Mary Mosquera, TechWeb News
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The lawmaker many expect to assume the chairmanship of the powerful House Commerce Committee said Friday that freeing up telephone carriers from unnecessary regulation tops his agenda for the next Congress.
Rep. W.E. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) told a telecommunications conference that, "assuming I am chairman-elect," that he also intends to expand and accelerate reform of the Federal Communications Commission, which he believes has impeded competition and timely rollout of high-speed Internet.
House committee chairs will be selected early in January. Tauzin, who was chairman of the Commerce Committee's telecommunications subcommittee, is seen vying for chairmanship with Rep. Michael Oxley (R-Ohio).
Internet and telecommunications legislation must pass through the House Commerce Committee.
Tauzin also threw his support behind Michael Powell, an FCC commissioner and the son of retired General Colin Powell, as the best choice to replace chairman William Kennard if Texas Gov. George W. Bush wins the presidency.
"He is the brightest light on the commission and the brightest mind," Tauzin said.
The senior Powell is expected to have a job in a Bush administration.
"What I've gotten is an indication that he would be under active consideration," said Tauzin, who has spoken with Bush advisers.
Tauzin met with Powell last week at a social event and expects to sit down with him next week to talk about an FCC chairmanship.
Tauzin, long a critic of the FCC, said the agency's reform plan does not go far enough fast enough. He said that with Powell at the helm, much of what he thinks should take place will be done internally without congressional direction.
"I think he wants to take the FCC in the direction I'd like to take it," he said
Published reports have also mentioned Patrick Wood, chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission, as a possible Bush selection for the FCC.
The FCC has been slow to finish the deregulation ordered in the 1996 Telecommunications Act because it has been busy with its own agenda, such as low-powered FM radio stations and the e-rate to subsidize Internet connections in schools and libraries.
These initiatives fall outside the regulator's authority granted by Congress, Tauzin said. The agency also has dragged out the length of telecommunications mergers until the companies agree to conditions the communications regulator demands.
Tauzin, whose congressional website's first language is Cajun French, continues to pepper his comments with allegations that the FCC "blackmails," "extorts," and "shakes down" companies that come before it for merger and license review.
Tauzin also blamed the FCC for some of the meltdown of high-tech stocks because of the agency's slow action to deregulate.
"The slow pace of it all has contributed to some of the IT meltdown," Tauzin said.
One of the disagreements between Tauzin and the FCC is the amount of regulation the regional Bell carriers, such as Verizon Communications (stock: VZ) and SBC Communications Inc. (stock: SBC), must satisfy in order to enter long distance and Internet data transport.
The same regulations do not apply to new entrants, such as small competitive local exchanges, and new data platforms, such as wireless and cable.
The FCC has a rigorous checklist the major telephone carriers must fulfill in order to prove that competition has taken hold in their region.
The FCC has said it is concerned over the legacy of phone carriers using their local telephone monopolies to dominate in the Internet sector.
"It's that kind of stupid, micro-management, the insidious inclination to hold things up instead of speeding the process of deregulation that we need to change," Tauzin said.
He also said privacy legislation will be high on the congressional agenda because there is a growing consensus to legislate federal preemption so individual state privacy laws do not interfere with e-commerce.
techweb.com |
