Proposed broadband bill gets cold reception

InfoWorld - Powerful lawmakers this week were poised to introduce controversial new telecommunications legislation that favors the Baby Bells.
Reps. W.J. Tauzin (R-La.) and John Dingell (D-Mich.) have crafted the Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001. The highly anticipated bill is aimed at jump-starting wide-scale deployment of broadband by eliminating some of the regulations lawmakers say are holding back the Bells.
Even before the legislation made its debut in Congress, Baby Bell competitors showered the measure with a heap of opposition. Twelve industry groups purporting to represent a multitude of emerging telecommunications companies, IT services companies and Fortune 500 users lashed out at the measure.
"The Bells have attempted to build a brick wall around their markets so no competitors can get in. The Tauzin-Dingell bill is another brick in that wall," said Steve Ricchetti, co-chairman of Voices for Choices, a Washington-based coalition of trade groups.
Among other things, the bill would take away from the Federal Communications Commission and states the ability to regulate high-speed data and Internet access service, according to a draft copy of the legislation.
The bill would also limit the FCC's ability to force the regional Bell companies to open up their networks to competitors trying to use the established infrastructure to deliver services.
Dave Robertson, head of United States Internet Service Providers Association (USISPA) called the bill a Trojan horse designed to let the Bells out of their obligations to open local markets to competition as required under the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Robertson said the Bells have routinely thrown up barricades and "from their perch watched countless competitors fall by the wayside."
Robertson added that he now counts 5,800 out-of-business Internet service providers as victims of the lack of competition.
The bill expressly purports to create market incentives for a timely rollout of broadband services.
Tauzin and Dingell had planned to hold a hearing on the legislation yesterday.
Opponents attending Tuesday's Voices for Choices rally against the legislation, however, predicted that the bill won't garner the support Tauzin and Dingell are anticipating in the House of Representatives.
Trade group leaders also expect the bill to flounder in the Senate.

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