To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (9158 ) 11/14/2000 4:54:50 AM From: elmatador Read Replies (2) | Respond to "If Bush wins the election, we previously believed, CLECs were in extreme jeopardy. Billy Tauzin, taking over the House Committee, has received over $1M from BellSouth (he is pressing legislation to save the telcos $B in reciprocal compensation to the CLECs), and Republicans on the FCC have gennerally been reluctant to make dramatic decisions (like line-sharing) that have been the CLEC lifeline. But the stock market has already knocked several CLECs into bankruptcy, and put extraordinary pressure on others. The result, as any financial analyst can tell you, is that CLEC survival is already threatened. With competition at the forefront of telecom policy, whoever takes over at the FCC will have to find a way to keep CLECs alive. Mike Powell has worked closely with Kennard on many issues, although resisting some, and has spoken about the importance of competition. He sees the open internet as a key to diversity in programming, and supports open access. The job is his, presumably, if he wants it, after his family (Colin's his dad) gave strong support to Bush. Bush's Texas PUC Commissioner, Pat Wood, is the presumptive alternative. He's backed SBC on long distance, but also fined them millions for not opening their network. His own statement on the web is "Wood strongly believes that competition can do better than regulation in delivering customer benefits and service innovations. Throughout his career, he has worked to advance a pro-customer, market-oriented vision of utility regulation." Both are politically resistant to measures that restrain the telcos's freedom - but pragmatically will have to find a way to keep the competitors going..." Source: DSL PRIME
