COMPETITION
Telecom Competition Needs More Than Five Years (NewsBytes)
Bell Rivals Gain Market Share (USA)
EU Watching Internet Monopolies (NYT)
Verizon Blasts Broadband Legislation (NewsBytes)
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Supreme Court Agrees to Examine Law Protecting Kids From Web Porn
(WSJ)
COMPETITION
TELECOM COMPETITION NEEDS MORE THAN FIVE YEARS
Issue: Competition
At the same time the FCC released a report on the state of local
telecommunications competition, Federal Communications Commission Chairman
Michael Powell dismissed claims that the Telecommunications
Act of 1996 has failed to bring competition to local markets. He said
declaring failure is premature given that the law has had only five years to
overturn nearly a century of government-sponsored monopoly in
telecommunications and create a competitive environment. The FCC report said
that local competition is flourishing, particularly in states where
established carriers like the baby Bells are allowed to offer long distance
high-speed data services. Powell agreed with legislation currently being
pushed in the House by Rep. Fed Upton(R-MI) to raise fines for baby Bells
and other existing carriers that undertake illegal or surreptitious means to
preserve their monopolies. Powell said that the government need not wait
"forever" for broadband and other telecommunications services to become
"ubiquitous," but cautioned that the government should exhibit patience and
allow the market to work at its own pace, stating that "it's important to
keep a hold of ourselves..."
[SOURCE: Newsbytes, AUTHOR: Robert MacMillan]
(http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/165950.html)
BELL RIVALS GAIN MARKET SHARE
Issue: Competition
According to a report by the Federal Communications Commission, competitive
local exchange carriers saw their market share nearly double in 2000, with
most significant increases in New York and Texas. But consumer advocates and
some industry groups warn that the telecommunications industry and
legislative changes may adversely affect competition soon. Allowing the
incumbent carriers to enter the long-distance market made the difference,
reports Bob Bishop of Verizon, the baby Bell in New York. Critics, such as
Russell Frisby, head of the Competitive Telecommunications Association,
argue that FCC was prompted to allow the baby Bells to offer long-distance
because New York and Texas local phone markets were open, and long-distance
carriers were already competing there. "Competition may disappear," warns
Gene Kimmelman of the Consumers Union, if the FCC makes it easier for the
baby Bells to enter the long-distance market.
[SOURCE: USA Today, AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010522/3338483s.htm)
EU WATCHING INTERNET MONOPOLIES
Issue: Competition
The European Union's top antitrust official, Mario Monti, said Monday he is
watching the market positions of Internet units set up by former national
telecommunications monopolies, including Deutsche Telekom's T-Online
subsidiary. The liberalization of European telecoms has left some former
monopolies and their online units in a particularly strong position, said
Monti in a speech at a conference on competition in Berlin. On May 8th,
Monti's office opened an in-depth probe into a joint venture between
T-Online, leading German tour operators TUI and C&N, and Lufthansa. The
Commission warned at the time that this "powerful and unique" alliance could
leave consumers with less choice for online travel services.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Germany-EU-Internet.html)
(requires registration)
VERIZON BLASTS BROADBAND LEGISLATION
Issue: Broadband
On the eve of a House Judiciary Committee hearing on legislation designed to
beef up state and federal enforcement remedies against local phone
companies, Verizon Communications today held a media briefing to denounce
the measure as an "erroneous application of antitrust law." The Judiciary
committee is expected to hear testimony on a pair of bills, that amend
antitrust laws to allow a state attorney general to prevent Bell operating
companies from offering long distance data services in areas where they
still control more than 85 percent of the market for local phone service.
The two measures are a direct assault on legislation introduced House
Commerce Committee Chairman W. J. "Billy" Tauzin and ranking Democrat John
Dingell, Mich., that would allow former Bell companies such as Verizon and
SBC Communications to enter the long distance data market without having to
comply with regulations forcing them to show they have adequately opened
their local markets to competitors.
[SOURCE: NewsBytes, AUTHOR: Brian Krebs]
(http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/165956.html)
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
SUPREME COURT AGREES TO EXAMINE LAW PROTECTING KIDS FROM WEB PORN
Issue: Filtering
The Supreme Court agreed to consider the 1998 Child Online Protection Act,
which makes it illegal to knowingly place pornography on the Web where a
child could find it. A lower court ruled recently that the law is in
violation of the First Amendment, stating that there may be no way to
protect children from online pornographic material that doesn't violate the
First Amendment, and blocked the Justice Department from enforcing it. The
law requires commercial Web sites to collect a credit-card number or access
code as proof of age before viewing Web material considered "harmful to
minors." Defenders of the law at the Justice Department say that it
effectively targets only material that children should not be viewing, but
free-speech advocates including the American Civil Liberties Union criticize
the law as unconstitutional. The Child Online Protection Act was passed in
1998 after the Supreme Court struck down a previous ban on making
pornography accessible to children, the Communications Decency Act. The
court is expected to consider the law during its term starting in October.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB990455572502406707.htm)
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