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To: Jan Crawley who wrote (5895)	8/6/1998 2:43:00 PM
From: pat mudge	Respond to of 18016

From today's Financial Times, note the critical last paragraph, beginning: "The Commission will also debate a measure designed to improve delivery of high speed internet access to US consumers." <<< THURSDAY AUGUST 6 1998ÿÿTelecomsÿ FCC moves to ease rules for phone deals By Mark Suzman in Washington The Federal Communications Commission, the chief US telecommunications regulator, is today expected to launch a policy review aimed at making it easier for international phone companies to negotiate new settlement rates with US carriers. The move is in response to growing liberalisation of the global telecommunications market. If the review's recommendations are accepted, competitive global carriers would be permitted to strike deals directly with US companies without having to apply for regulatory approval. Under current rules, all existing agreements between international and US telephone companies must be referred to the FCC before being implemented. The agency has the power to intervene if it feels that foreign companies are unfairly discriminating against US carriers in their home country. However, many companies have complained that the restrictions date from a time when most international phone agreements were negotiated with domestic monopolies. In response to such concerns, the FCC now believes that the rules need to be modified to recognise that many parts of the world have very competitive telecommunications markets. "Basically it's a response to changes that have already occurred in a lot of countries, especially in Europe, and we want to cut out an unnecessary bureaucratic step," a FCC official said. "It's a move that would give greater opportunities for US carriers and ultimately benefit US consumers." As part of the WTO telecommunications agreement which came into force earlier this year, the FCC has already taken steps to ensure that its domestic telecommunications market is open to international competition. Under the new changes - which are not required as part of the WTO accord - the FCC would set out a series of benchmarks relating to settlement prices. Provided those conditions were met, carriers would be free to negotiate and modify agreements without regulatory review. The FCC will vote on the review at a commission meeting today. If approved, the proposals would then be presented for public comment for two months, after which the agency will take a formal decision on whether to adopt the changes. The Commission will also debate a measure designed to improve delivery of high speed internet access to US consumers. The proposal would allow local US telephone monopolies - the so-called "baby Bells" - to offer advanced digital services to customers without being required to make the equipment available to competitors as is currently the case for local phone lines. >>>>