Regulation & Competition
TelecomAM: SBC Says It Had Little Choice But To Challenge Telecom Act
WSJ: America, the Global Telecom Laggard
TelecomAM: Ameritech Joins Two Other Bells In Seeking Exemptions For Data
Long Distance
WSJ: FCC Is Asked for Permission For Long-Distance Service
TelecomAM: Sprint Says It Passed On All Access Charge Reductions To Users
TelecomAM: McCain Calls On Kennard To List Requirements For Meeting 271 List
Internet
NYT: Children's First Amendment Rights Lost in The Filtering Debate
Television
WP: FCC To Back V-Chip
NYT: AT&T Is Seeking Cable-TV Alliance
InfoTech
WP: Intel's Celeron Is A New bag of Chips
Lifestyles!
NYT: Advertising: Bill Gates Is Tiger Woods? Well, He's Doing a
Commercial
** Regulation & Competition **
Title: SBC Says It Had Little Choice But To Challenge Telecom Act
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: TelecomAct/Competition
Description: SBC had little choice but to file its federal suit challenging
the Telecom Act, Senior Executive VP James Ellis told state regulators. At a
Washington meeting of NARUC, he said the company was losing customers to
competitors but unable to get into long distance to improve its competitive
position and uncertain as to why the FCC rejected its application in
Oklahoma. Although SBC also appealed the FCC's denial of its Section 271
application to the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., it decided that wasn't enough
because "the best we could hope for was a remand," which would mean another
year's delay, Ellis said.
Title: America, the Global Telecom Laggard
Source: Wall Street Journal (A14)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Scott Blake Harris & Peter F. Cowhey
Issue: Competition
Description: When Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, its
aim was to open all U.S. communications markets to robust competition. U.S.
trade negotiators used that law to persuade the world that global
competition in telecom services was inevitable. They dared the world to join
the U.S. in creating a pro-competitive environment. And the world did: The World
Trade Organization brokered an accord based on the principles of the Telecom
Act that opened markets in 69 countries representing 80% of world telecom
revenues. Now, on the first anniversary of the WTO accord, Europe and Japan
are making significant progress toward opening their telecom markets. By
painful contrast, on the second anniversary of the Telecom Act, the U.S. is
not living up to its own rhetoric, goals or commitments.
Title: Ameritech Joins Two Other Bells In Seeking Exemptions For Data
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Regulation
Description: Ameritech became the third Bell company in recent weeks to ask
the FCC to ease regulation for its high-speed data networks to stimulate
development. Like U S West and Bell Atlantic, it invoked Section 706 of the
Telecom Act, which directs the Commission to promote the roll out of
advanced technology. Each of the companies' petitions asks the FCC to exempt
new broadband networks from two restrictions generally placed on Bell
companies: (1) The ban on crossing LATA boundaries. (2) The requirement to
lease facilities to competitors at cost. Ameritech said its request differs
from the others in that it recommends that if the FCC requires a separate
subsidiary for data services, it should follow the less stringent model used
in 1984 to regulate GTE's then-ownership of Sprint.
** Long Distance **
Title: FCC Is Asked for Permission For Long-Distance Service
Source: Wall Street Journal (B4)
http://wsj.com/
Issue: Long Distance
Description: Ameritech asked the FCC to be allowed to offer long-distance
data services in
its five-state region. The Baby Bell is prohibited from offering
long-distance voice and data service in its home territory until it proves
to the FCC that it has opened up to competition. Ameritech is seeking
permission under a portion of the Telecom Act of 1996 that permits the FCC
to grant regulatory relief to carriers trying to deploy advanced data networks.
Title: Sprint Says It Passed On All Access Charge Reductions To Users
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Long Distance
Description: Sprint says its rates fell last year by $500 million more than
access
charges came down. Responding to FCC Chairman Kennard's
request for proof that long distance companies passed on to consumers all
access charge reductions, Executive VP-Gen. Counsel Richard Devlin said the
company passed anticipated reductions on to consumers through a variety of
"promotions and new product offerings" throughout last year, rather than
suddenly cutting rates at the beginning of this year.
Title: McCain Calls On Kennard To List Requirements For Meeting 271 List
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Long Distance
Description: Senate Committee Chairman John McCain said he would ask FCC
Chairman Kennard to disclose within two weeks the "minimum requirements" for
meeting each of the 124 checklist items in Section 271 of the Telecom Act.
He also said he soon would introduce legislation to address the failure of
Section 271 to bring about competition. Sen McCain said he was "profoundly
disappointed" with Kennard's recent statement that his staff cannot find
time to rule on every checklist item while also holding informal sessions
with Bell companies. He said that response to a query by Sen. Sam Brownback
was "unacceptable" and indicates that the Commission's decisions on Bell
company long distance applications "will continue to fail to inform carriers
about the minimum checklist requirements."
** Internet **
Title: Children's First Amendment Rights Lost in The Filtering Debate
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/cyber/cyberlaw/06law.html
Author: Carl S. Kaplan
Issue: First Amendment
Description: Behind the controversy over the use software filtering systems
to prevent children from accessing "indecent" material on the Internet in
schools and libraries is the question: "Do children have a First Amendment
right to obtain indecent materials?" Legal experts say that the answer to
this question is incredibly important because the stronger a child's right
to access a wide range of indecent materials, the more difficult it is for
the government to justify the use of filtering software in places where
children gather, like schools and children's computer terminals in libraries.
** Television **
Title: FCC To Back V-Chip
Source: Washington Post (G3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-03/06/195l-030698-idx.html
Author: Paul Farhi
Issue: V-Chip
Description: At a meeting next Thursday, the Federal Communications
Commission will give its formal approval to V-chip manufacturing standards
and grant official status to the "voluntary" program-rating system that is
currently being used by both broadcast and cable networks. However,
television sets equipped with the V-chip will not be available to consumers
until late 1999 due to long production lead times. Proponents of the chip
say that it will allow parents to control what programs enter their home. On
the other hand, critics maintain that by creating an "electronic babysitter"
the government undermines parents' ability to make specific choices for
their children and removes family opportunities for decision-making and
discussion about television.
Title: AT&T Is Seeking Cable-TV Alliance
Source: New York Times (C5)
http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Bloomberg News
Issue: Cable
Description: AT&T executives said yesterday that they have been talking with
several cable-television companies about alliances which could help it offer
high speed Internet access and local service to customers using cable wires.
** InfoTech **
Title: Intel's Celeron Is A New bag of Chips
Source: Washington Post (G1,G2)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-03/06/108l-030698-idx.html
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: InfoTech
Description: On Wednesday, the Intel Corp. announced a new line of low-cost
computer chips, called "Celeron." Intel's upcoming line may denote a turning
point in the way computer manufacturers think about the computer chip --
abandoning the one-size fits all approach for a more customized product
designed to fit consumer's varied wants and needs. "The fundamental PC
served all uses," said Dennis Carter, an Intel vice president and director
of marketing. "Now we're seeing specialized devices. Even the desktop PC
isn't a single, homogeneous product." Intel developed this new brand of chip
in reaction to a slowing demand for PC's and an increase in the sales of
sub-$1,000 computers. Celeron will be the chip for low-cost computers. The
main difference between a Celeron and a Pentium II is that Pentium IIs have
more on-board memory and will be better at displaying 3-D graphics.
** Lifestyles! **
Title: Advertising: Bill Gates Is Tiger Woods? Well, He's Doing a Commercial
Source: New York Times (C5)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/biztech/articles/06gates.html
Author: Stuart Elliott
Issue: Microsoft/Lifestyle
Description: "Bill Gates, you've just testified before a Senate committee,
paid tribute to the Wright brothers at the Time magazine 75th anniversary
party, presented the New York Public Library with a $640,000 grant and
visited a sixth-grade classroom. What are you going to do? No, William H.
Gates, the chairman of the Microsoft Corp., is not going to Disney World.
Instead, he is taking another prominent role in the consumer-celebrity
culture: that of pitchman." This weekend, Bill Gates will star in a
television and print campaign to endorse the Big Bertha line of over-sized
golf clubs. In the commercial Gates says: "I started to play golf about five
years ago. It was humbling. I really like it, but it's so frustrating!"
*********