Sen. Smith Advocates Streamlined Telco Bill

SEN SMITH ADVOCATES STREAMLINED TELCO BILL
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
On Tuesday, Sen Gordon Smith (R-OR) addressed the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association’s Legislative and Policy Conference and outlined his Broadband for America Act of 2006. In a press release, he called the proposal is a "‘disciplined’ and ‘directed’ piece of legislation that the Senate can swiftly pass to promote the construction of new broadband networks in rural America." "My own view is that a targeted bill is better than a more comprehensive bill and has a greater chance of success," Sen Smith told reporters. "The bigger it is, the more comprehensive it is, the more likely it is to get bogged down and to delay technological deployment throughout our country." The Smith legislation would provide regulatory relief for Bell telephone companies and other new entrants into the video programming business, and it would let municipalities offer low-cost, high-speed Internet service. The measure further would let unlicensed service providers offer wireless broadband by utilizing unassigned or unused broadcast television spectrum called "white space." And it would revamp the $7.3 billion Universal Service Fund subsidizing telecom service in rural locales, creating an annual $500 million fund to deploy broadband in areas without service. The bill draws on language in bills authored by: George Allen, R-Va.; Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.; Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.; John McCain, R-Ariz.; John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va.; and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-KBOR1145995507422.html

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* Sen Smith's press release:
http://gsmith.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=211&Month=4&Year=2006