Universal Service/Competition
FCC: Fair Competition & Eight Principles for Sustainable
Universal Service
TelecomAM: Yankee Group Study Predicts 50% of Apartment Dwellers Will Have
Competitive Local Choice By 2000
Internet/Online Services
WSJ: AOL to Boost Monthly Charge 10%
NYT: Bill On Internet Smut is Introduced
NYT: Arkansas Congressman Takes a Free-Speech Risk
WP: Tiny Tribe Clicks on Gray Area Looking for Green in
Web-Based National Lottery
FCC: Remarks before the WashingtonWeb Internet Policy Forum
Free Time for Candidates
NTIA: Free and Discounted Airtime for Candidates to Educate Voters
Merger
WSJ: AT&T Holds Cable-TV Talks On Net Venture
** Universal Service **
Title: Fair Competition & Eight Principles for Sustainable Universal Service
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/spwek803.html
Author: FCC Chairman Bill Kennard
Issue: Universal Service/Competition
Description: "The [Telecom] Act [of 1996] is all about competition. And with
the advent of competition, consumer advocates will be more important than
ever. You'll find yourselves drawn into new areas and facing new challenges.
There's no question that as markets open to create new marketing
opportunities and new products, consumers also face new risks. So I want to
talk today about how the growth of competition will change our role at the
FCC, and the role of consumer advocates...." The eight principles of
substainable universal service: "1.) Universal service reform should not
reduce the amount of explicit support that the state receives from the
interstate jurisdiction. By this, I mean that costs that previously had been
borne by the interstate jurisdiction because of the old high cost fund
should continue to be borne by federal universal service mechanisms. 2.)
States have an obligation to take all reasonable steps as promptly as
possible to reform existing intrastate universal service support mechanisms
to make them compatible with competitive local markets by making the
subsidies explicit and portable. 3.) States should continue to collect as
much of what is currently intrastate universal service support (whether
implicit or explicit) from within their own state. 4.) Where a state has
fully reformed its own universal service mechanisms and would be collecting
as much of what is currently intrastate universal service support as is
possible, additional federal universal service support should be provided to
any high cost areas where state mechanisms in combination with baseline
federal support, are not sufficient to maintain rates at affordable levels.
5.) Federal universal service support should be the minimum necessary to
achieve statutory goals. 6.) Federal and state universal support mechanisms
should collect contributions in a competitively neutral manner. 7.) Federal
and state universal service support mechanisms should encourage efficient
investment in new plants and technologies by all eligible telecommunications
carriers. 8.) Federal and state universal service support mechanisms should
promote service to historically underserved areas -- Native American
nations, for example. I believe that if guided by these principles, we can
reform our existing universal service system for the competitive age."
Title: Yankee Group Study Predicts 50% of Apartment Dwellers Will Have
Competitive
Local Choice By 2000
Source: Telecom AM---feb. 10, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Competition
Description: A report from the Yankee Group says that by the year 2000, more
than 50% of the households located in apartment buildings and other types of
high-density clustered communities will have a choice of local phone
providers. The report says that the major competitive local exchange carriers
(CLECs) have found local resale unprofitable and are turning to
facilities-based solutions, nearly all of which are being developed first in
the major cities where there are large residential populations in high
density apartment developments. A fiber network serving high-density
business developments can be extended profitably to nearby high-density
residential developments, the study said.
** Internet/Online Services **
Title: AOL to Boost Monthly Charge 10%
Source: Wall Street Journal (A3)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Thomas E. Weber
Issue: Online Services
Description: AOL said it will boost its monthly charge 10%, potentially
clearing the way for a wave of price increases throughout the
Internet-access industry. The move came a week after the company acquired
the subscriber rolls of its largest competitor, Compuserve. That timing
could draw renewed scrutiny of the company's pricing practices. Beginning in
April, AOL's 11 million members will pay $21.95 a month for unlimited
access, up from $19.95.
Title: Bill On Internet Smut is Introduced
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/021098education.html
Author: Associated Press
Issue: Internet Regulation/Universal Service
Description: The Senate offered a bill yesterday that would require schools
and libraries that receive federal funding to hook up to the Internet to
restrict children's access to smutty material. The bill was introduced by
Senator John McCain (R-AZ), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and
ardent critic of the FCC's Internet subsidy program. If the bill goes
through, a school receiving a subsidy would have to certify that it would
use screening software to prevent children from accessing Web sites that
might contain indecent material. A library receiving a subsidy would have to
certify that of their computers available for public use, at least one
computer is equipped with screening software.
Title: Arkansas Congressman Takes a Free-Speech Risk
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/021098congress.html
Author: Rebecca Fairly Raney
Issue: Internet Use
Description: Representative Asa Hutchinson (R-AK) is the first member of
Congress to offer an online forum on his Web site. Hutchinson hopes that
this move will encourage his constituents to engage in an "undaunted and
unedited" flow of discussion. "I don't think we're here in Congress to
control the dialogue," Hutchinson said. "I think we need unfettered access
to constituents' views." Chris Casey, author of "The Hill on the Net:
Congress Enters the Information Age" said about Hutchinson's online forum,
"It's an innovative thing to do and it's a pretty brave thing to do. Most
members would be cautious about giving up control of their Web pages.
Someone's got to take a chance and try it. I'm sure other offices will watch
this board with great interest."
Title: Tiny Tribe Clicks on Gray Area Looking for Green in
Web-Based National Lottery
Source: Washington Post (A5)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-02/10/127l-021098-idx.html
Author: Tom Kenworthy
Issue: Electronic Commerce/Gambling
Description: Members of the Coeur d'Alene Indian tribe believe that
American's love of gambling and the Internet will result in a rich explosion
of high-tech gaming. The tribe has launched U.S. Lottery, headquartered at
their 5-year old bingo hall and casino located on a two-lane road 25 miles
southeast of Spokane, WA. They are billing U.S. Lottery as "the first ever
parimutuel lottery to be accessible both by telephone and Internet." It will
be available to residents of the District of Columbia and the 33 states that
have state-run lotteries.
Title: Remarks before the WashingtonWeb Internet Policy Forum
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Ness/spsn803.html
Author: Commissioner Susan Ness
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: "The FCC has indeed discovered the Internet. Don't run away in
a panic just yet. When exactly did we discover it? Was it nine months ago,
when we created the schools and libraries program to enable Internet
connectivity in every elementary and secondary school classroom in America?
Was it three years ago, when we began posting every public FCC release on
our Web site? Was it ten years ago, when we reaffirmed that "enhanced
service providers" like CompuServe and Prodigy should not be subject to
per-minute access charges like those the long distance carriers pay to local
telephone companies? No, it was even earlier than that. It was almost twenty
years ago that the FCC issued its "Computer II" rules, declaring that
enhanced service providers would NOT be regulated like telephone companies.
Vint Cerf, one of the founders of the Internet, tells me that he first
testified before the FCC on Internet issues in 1976, over 22 years ago!"
** Free Time for Candidates **
Title: Free and Discounted Airtime for Candidates to Educate Voters
Source: NTIA
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fccfilings/020598whltr.htm
Author: President Bill Clinton
Issue: Free Time for Candidates/Television
Description: Text of a letter from the President to the Chairman and members
of the Federal Communications Commission on developing policies to ensure
that broadcasters provide free and discounted airtime for candidates to
educate voters. "In my State of the Union Address I called upon the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to act to require media outlets to provide
candidates with free and discounted airtime for campaign advertising. Free
and discounted time
will reduce the need for more campaign money, and will allow candidates to
spend less time fundraising and more time addressing the concerns of our
country....I call upon the Commission to develop policies, as soon as
possible, which ensure that broadcasters provide free and discounted airtime
for candidates to educate voters."
** Merger **
Title: AT&T Holds Cable-TV Talks On Net Venture
Source: Wall Street Journal (B6)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Leslie Cauley
Issue: Merger
Description: The nation's top cable-TV companies are in talks with AT&T
about the phone company investing in a cable-industry Internet-access
venture. The cable companies have been discussing merging Time Warner's
Internet-access unit, Road Runner, with At Home Corp. If that merger is
completed, AT&T might be interested in a partnership with the venture. The
long-distance company's investment could total as much as $1 billion, most
of it cash. In exchange, AT&T would receive new shares in the beefed-up
service.
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