BROADBAND COMMUNICATIONS

There's an important issue about to come to a vote in the House,one that will affect current and future users of broadbandcommunications channels to tap the power of the Internet.

The Tauzin-Dingell bill, or the Internet Freedom and BroadbandDeployment Act, is expected to pass the House in a vote next week.The bill has a bit tougher route in the Senate.

Supporters claim the bill, sponsored by Reps. W.J. "Billy"Tauzin, R-La., and John Dingell, D-Mich., will help accelerate thedeployment of broadband Internet services through the country.Broadband delivers the Internet faster, and also frees up phoneswhile people are online.

However, this page did not support the bill when a Housecommittee advanced the legislation, and our position stands. Thisbill creates a monopoly for the "Baby Bells" and attempts tocircumvent the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which says that if atelephone company wants to offer long-distance service, it has toopen its phone lines to competitors.

This language is nonexistent in the Tauzin-Dingell bill, whichdeals with data. The lack of competition ultimately hurts consumers.Period.

It's worth noting that the situation is slightly different here,because Verizon already has had to open its lines to competitorsbecause of its earlier push to provide long-distance service. Butthe Baby Bells, which have a virtual lock on local phone servicenationwide, should not be able to establish yet another nationwidemonopoly in the broadband services market.

What makes this situation worse is that the FederalCommunications Commission recently proposed that high-speed Internetaccess provided by telephone companies not be subject to the sameregulations governing basic telephone service. If adopted, thiswould be a significant step for the telephone companies, which wouldnot have to offer competitors Internet access, e-mail and otherservices over the telephone lines the regional carriers use todeliver high-speed service.

In these merger-happy days, it is impractical to think thatvirtually handing the telephone companies a Digital Subscriber Linemonopoly is going to stimulate private-sector investment. But itwill help expedite the demise of smaller competitors that needaccess to the existing lines.

If the Tauzin-Dingell bill goes any further, it will surelyjeopardize the chances of the small competition making a go of it inDSL. It will ensure that consumers will have even fewer choices, andthat's the real impact.