To: Scrapps who wrote (18944 ) 6/15/1999 10:47:00 AM From: Moonray Respond to of 22053
Bandwidth Wars: Kennard promotes policy for high-speed Net access Associated Press - Posted at 6:49 a.m. PDT Tuesday, June 15, 1999 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission predicts chaos if local governments are allowed to determine the technical standards for high-speed Internet access and cable television systems. ''Imagine if we had a highway system where every town could set the parameters for the size of cars and the size of lanes. We wouldn't be able to drive to the store, much less to another state,'' William E. Kennard said in remarks prepared for delivery today to the National Cable Television Association convention in Chicago. The text was released in Washington. Cable companies are upgrading their lines so they may offer a range of ''broadband'' services that could include high-speed Internet access. Kennard said, ''The Information Superhighway will not work if there are 30,000 different technical standards or 30,000 different regulatory structures for broadband. The market would be rocked with uncertainty. Investment would be stymied. Consumers would be hurt.'' Kennard urged support for setting up a national policy on these broadband pipelines to the Internet. ''The ball is in your court, and if you act responsibly, consumers will get broadband and that broadband pipe will follow the open tradition of the Internet,'' he said. ''If this marketplace is allowed to develop, the entire country will benefit from an Internet -- the engine driving our economy -- that goes faster.'' He said he was surprised that there had been no appeal to the FCC of a Portland, Ore., federal district court ruling earlier this month that said the city could force its cable TV franchisee to open its lines to all Internet service providers. Kennard said he met last week with Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and his colleagues from rural states to assure them that the Internet would be accessible to people who live in small towns and farms. o~~~ O