We Need Telecom Reform

WE NEED TELECOM REFORM -- (Extensions of Remarks - February 08, 2005)

SPEECH OF
HON. JOE WILSON
OF SOUTH CAROLINA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2005

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on the anniversary of one of the hardest fought legislative battles of the last decade and to discuss the need for improving it this year.
It was 9 years ago this week that Congress last passed comprehensive telecom reform. The biggest issues then were how best to provide competition in both local and long distance telephone service and to ensure that everyone, including those in rural areas, has access to phone service.

In the last 9 years we have seen advancements in communication technology that could not have been envisioned. Near universal access to the Internet, development and deployment of broadband technology, more wireless phones in service than wireline accounts, e-mail on the go and cable, phone, and satellite companies all vying to deliver an entire suite of video and communications services to a growing marketplace. New technologies and industries unfettered by the constraints of old rules have competed vigorously for consumers' business, transforming forever the way business and consumers get information and communicate with one another.

Unfortunately, our telecom laws have not kept pace with growing demand for choice and competition in the marketplace. Some industries continue to operate under arcane regulations that stifle ingenuity, hinder job creation, and bottle up needed economic investment. These same regulations also place the burden of meeting our shared national priorities of universal phone service and 911 emergency services squarely on the shoulders of a single industry-the local phone companies.

Our Nation's telecom laws are due for some badly needed, free-market reforms, changes that will build upon the successes of the last 9 years in terms of innovation and product delivery while also addressing the issues of social responsibility and competition. Unlike what we did in 1996, these new telecom laws must do more to anticipate advancements and create a mechanism where the playing field is level for every company that wishes to compete.
Specifically, we face some daunting challenges. The United States-despite being the country that invented the Internet-ranks 13th in the world in broadband deployment, there are millions of jobs and billions of dollars in potential investment waiting to be unleashed by a telecom marketplace free of excessive regulations and Universal Service and 911 access must, again, be the responsibility of all the companies in the telecom marketplace.

In much the same way healthy, abundant competition for mobile phone service has enabled nearly every community in the United States to have access to a wireless phone signal, so too can vigorous competition deliver on President Bush's commitment of universal broadband service. A study by the New Millennium Research Council shows that 1.2 million jobs can be created and over $50 billion in new investment in broadband technologies can be brought about by ubiquitous broadband deployment.

In the past, we have made it incumbent upon local phone companies to ensure that basic phone service and 911 emergency needs were met. These services are important to our rural and local safety communities and must be protected. Now, however, it is unfair to ask only a handful of companies to bear the burden of ensuring the success of the Universal Service Fund and it is dangerous to allow some companies offering phone services to opt out of providing 911 services.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, we have a responsibility this year to revisit our Nation's outdated and arcane telecom laws. A responsibility to our constituents to ensure that telecommunications competition provides choices. A responsibility to our economy to institute a telecom policy that spurs job creation and investment. A responsibility to our communities that their broadband and 911 safety needs will be met. And, finally, a responsibility to future telecom advancements that we will allow them to flourish and compete so that the United States is, once again, the global telecommunications leader.

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