Nearly 90% of U.S. households will have access to broadband via c...

needs “under most circumstances,” although cable usually offered 4 times that much. Citing cable’s $55 billion investment in broadband, NCTA said “explosive growth” of broadband was “testament to the wisdom of the government’s policy of vigilant restraint.” In other comments, ALTS said best way to promote broadband was to encourage facilities-based competition. “Studies show demand for broadband is still low,” ALTS Pres. John Windhausen said: “There is no benefit to artificially stimulating the availability of broadband to consumers that have little or no interest in subscribing.” ALTS said access to rights-of-way still was problem, and “premature deregulation of the ILECs’ necessary facilities would undermine competition.” However, AT&T said there was evidence that broadband deployment was “lagging” in some areas where market forces were inadequate to promote deployment. It suggested tax incentives, tax credits for employers, opening local exchange market to competition. Qwest said biggest broadband impediments were regulatory, including “asymmetrical regulatory burdens.” It said, for example, that cable modems were largely free from regulation, while ILECs had to unbundle their networks, providing below- cost capacity to competitors. CompTel said govt. should block “anticompetitive practices” of ILECs and no other new laws were needed to spur broadband. “Now that the majority of consumers have access to broadband, policymakers should focus on reviving the spirit of entrepreneurship,” CompTel Pres. Russell Frisby said: “The laws to do just that exist in the [1996 Telecom] Act, they just need to be enforced.” Govt. shouldn’t set single definition of broadband, and should continue to work on broadband mobile services, CTIA said. Major barriers are lack of spectrum and “unnecessary regulatory restrictions,” CTIA said. Among restrictions it wants lifted are spectrum cap and limits on spectrum flexibility. TIA said it was dissatisfied with pace of broadband deployment and suggested package of tax credits, low-interest loans, subsidies, grants, pilot project funding. Deregulation also would spur investment in facilities, TIA said. WorldCom said access by competitors to unbundled network elements at cost was necessary because “competition in the provision of network functions cannot develop rapidly for all network functions, and may not develop at all for other network functions.” Progress & Freedom Foundation largely repeated earlier comments to FCC, saying “uniform deregulatory regime for broadband services” would spur investment. Although satellite industry doesn’t believe there has been market failure in delivery of broadband services to urban America, Satellite Bcstg. & Communications Assn. said some govt. intervention might be necessary to ensure same services are provided in rural and remote areas. Tax credits -- either focused on consumers or service providers -- might be effective way to overcome cost barrier, it said.