Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FCC chairman: U.S. behind on broadband

From: "marcel_rf1" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 06 Mar 2004 20:00:18 -0000

LATEST NEWS
3:55 PM EST Friday
FCC chairman: U.S. behind on broadband

Leo John

The United States is lagging behind many other countries in broadband 
deployment, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell 
said Friday at a meeting in Raleigh. 

Despite being the most developed country in the world, the U.S. has 
fallen to 11th place in offering broadband access to its citizens, 
Powell said. 

"That is just not acceptable," Powell told a group of telecom 
industry executives, lobbyists and government regulators at a meeting 
sponsored by the North Carolina Citizens for Business & Industry. 

Addressing a range of telecom issues in his speech, Powell repeatedly 
said he believed the market was often the best regulator of an 
industry. Powell said it was up to the federal government to address 
the issue of competition in the telecom industry. 

A number of new technologies such as voice-over-IP, wi-fi and 
Internet access over power lines has diminished the impact of 
previous federal legislations, Powell said. 

"The 1996 Telecom Act is walking dead," said Powell. 

With regard to a Washington federal appeals court ruling that Bell 
companies were not required to lease out their phone lines at reduced 
rates, Powell said that was a mistake. 

"Some things are OK as a transition," said Powell. 

North Carolina Utilities Commission Chairperson Jo Anne Sanford said 
the state commission that is hearing a local version of the national 
issue was considering whether the Washington court ruling made the 
state effort redundant. 

"We are looking into whether we need to continue that effort ... a 
lot of companies have spent a lot of money on this case," said 
Sanford. 

Addressing the issue of lewd programming on the airwaves, Powell said 
ordinary people needed to inculcate more "media literacy" among 
children. Powell said any regulation of television programming had to 
be "soft" 

Capitol Broadband CEO and former Cary mayor Glen Lang complained that 
state and local regulators had conflicting rules that posed needless 
hurdles to telecom businesses. He asked for clarity on regulatory 
issues. 

"You can't figure out who regulates what," said Lang. 

Powell acknowledged that telecom regulations had become "an enormous 
circus of legal exercise." 

"We need to fundamentally redo the 1996 Act," said Powell. 

Many executives gathered at the event said Powell struck a chord with 
his clear direction and passion. 

"Everything he said resonated with me," said Randy Fraser, president 
of Time Warner Cable's Raleigh division. 

http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2004/03/01/daily46.ht
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