IP: Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Barry Ritholtz <ritholtz () optonline net>
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 17:39:55 -0500
To: farber () cis upenn edu
Subject: Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act


Here's the form letter I received from my representative (Congressman
Ackerman)
sent in response to an email urging him to oppose to the (Orwellian
titled)  "Internet
Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act"

I'm surprised that he actually included the line:  "I believe the bill
would level the
playing field for new high-speed data services."

I suppose in Washington DC, they must be seeing lots of broadband start
ups getting
funded over the next few years, huh?





Dear Mr. Ritholtz:

Thank you for contacting my office regarding H.R. 1542, The Internet
Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act.  I appreciate your concern about
this
important issue.

As you may already know, H.R. 1542 would amend the Communications Act of
1934 to prohibit local exchange carriers from being required to pay for
the
transport or termination of telecommunications to the internet, or any
provider
of internet-access services. The legislation would also forbid the
Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) and each State from regulating the
charges or
conditions for high-speed data service or internet-access service, or to
regulate
the facilities used in the provision of such service.

Although I understand your concern with the passage of this legislation,
I believe
the bill would level the playing field for new high-speed data
services.  The broadband
data marketplace is still in its developing stages and -- with only a
twenty-five percent
market share -- the regional bell operating companies (RBOCs) are far
from being the
dominant players. There is some concern about the development of
competition in the
local telephony market, but recently released data from the FCC on local
telephone-service
competition in the United States vividly illustrates that competition in
the local telephony
marketplace is taking root as a result of deregulation.

I appreciate your interest in this subject and the time you took to
contact me.
Of course, if my office can be of any assistance to you in the future,
please do not
hesitate to contact me.




------ End of Forwarded Message

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