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To: elmatador who wrote (3444)	6/19/2001 8:10:51 PM
From: zbyslaw owczarczyk	Respond to of 3891

Intel's Grove Calls for Easing Broadband Rules By Robyn Weisman, www.NewsFactor.com Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC - news) chairman Andy Grove is calling on the U.S. government to ease rules concerning broadband Internet access so that consumers and businesses have more opportunity to take advantage of the service. Speaking Monday night at a Progressive Policy Institute dinner in Washington, D.C., Grove urged government regulators to "help, not by generating return on investments, but by not putting up roadblocks." Grove said it is imperative that the federal government assist in the rapid development and adoption of nationwide broadband access. In addition, Grove called for loosening restrictions on high-tech exports and providing small businesses with tax incentives for buying broadband equipment and services. Changed Tune Grove said he once believed that forcing Baby Bells to open their lines to competitors through regulation was the best way to handle this burgeoning market. Now, however, he believes the government must enable rapid deployment of broadband access, even if that means allowing Baby Bells to dominate their respective markets. "It is time for a new approach," Grove said, "in which telecom incumbents that have emerged strongest in this battle should be allowed to invest with the fair expectation of making a lot of money." "If we want to see broadband," he added, "we have to follow the money, as simple, as cruel, as out-there as it is." Infrastructure Matters Grove argued that only the Baby Bells are in a position to build the necessary foundation for broadband because they are large, stable, and already have the basic infrastructure in place. Showing little sympathy for smaller broadband companies, many of which have gone bankrupt over the last year, Grove employed a barrage of slides to stress that Internet traffic continues to grow despite the financial setbacks the tech sector has experienced over the last year. William Hurley, program manager of e-networks and broadband access for the Boston, Massachusetts-based consulting firm Yankee Group, told NewsFactor Network that telecommunications is a difficult and expensive industry in which to participate, and incumbents end up sharing "the particularly difficult task" of setting up these broadband networks. Telecom Act Not the Issue Grove's viewpoint appears to coincide with that of those backing the controversial Tauzin-Dingell telecommunications bill, which allows for the Baby Bells to enter the nationwide high-speed Internet market without having to provide competitors with access to their local markets. However, Grove stopped short of publicly endorsing the legislation, saying, "I really don't have anything to add to that debate." And Hurley told NewsFactor that relaxing the strictures of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is not necessarily the best idea. Said Hurley: "As the regulations [of the 1996 Act] enter the adolescent stage of application, the landscape at this time may give benefits back to the incumbents," even though the act was designed to prevent just that kind of dominance. At the same time, Hurley said, the act created a competitive landscape that introduced new technology, new technology opportunities, and a variety of new business models for the industry as a whole.