National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) would oppose any...
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) would oppose any federal legislation aimed at encouraging deployment of advanced telecom services that didn’t “maintain the rights and responsibilities of states to regulate intrastate telecommunications, ensure fair and open competition… and allow…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
for participation of all parties on a nondiscriminatory basis,” according to resolution scheduled for vote at group’s spring meeting in Washington late Fri. Resolution, intended to be sent to all members of Congress, FCC and President Bush, also calls on Commission to expedite processing of Sec. 271 applications approved by state PUCs and Dept. of Justice. It urges Congress and FCC to consult with states and telecom providers to “review the current definitions of telecom services” to ensure that govt. regulation is “based on an even playing field between competitors of similar services delivered through different mediums.” At NCSL forum on cable deregulation, NCTA Senior Vp Rick Cimerman disagreed with Consumer Federation of America (CFA) Dir.-Research Mark Cooper that having universal service policy for broadband deployment would ensure that services were available in rural and underserved areas. Cimerman said cable modem service was available now to 70 million of 105 million households, and number will increase to 90 million in couple of years. Consumer Price Index (CPI) wasn’t relevant to inputs that go into determining cable prices, he said in response to Cooper’s comment that no other commodity matched cable in price increases in relation to CPI. All prices in entertainment industry have gone up, Cimerman said, and 65% of cable increase resulted from programming costs. As for criticism that cable didn’t offer services on per-channel basis although it claimed that price on per-channel basis actually had gone down, he said a la carte pricing would undermine cable’s current economic model. Indication of value provided by cable was that there hadn’t been any fall in subscribers. Urging state legislators to back resolution on broadband deployment, Verizon Asst. Vp Patrick Gaston called for regulatory parity with cable to spur investment and economic development.