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EFF Position on Markey/Fields Infrastructure Bill
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1993 09:32:06 -0500
National Communications Competition and Information Infrastructure Act of 1993 HR 3636 Introduced by Reps. Markey, Fields and Boucher EFF Position Statement and Summary On Monday, November 22, 1993, House Telecommunications and Finance Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Minority Chairman Jack Fields (R-Tex.), and other cosponsors introduced the "National Communications Competition and Information Infrastructure Act of 1993." The legislation, which incorporates EFF's Open Platform philosophy, is built on four concepts: open platform services, the entry of telephone companies into video cable service, universal service, and competition in the local telephone market. Of all pending telecommunications legislation, Markey's bill is the only one with a vision of an open, accessible network which supports a true diversity of information sources. The legislation proposes a major restructuring of the Communications Act of 1934 in order to account for changes in technology, market structure, and people's increasingly advanced information access needs. EFF recommends strong support for the bill. For the bill to realize its goals however, the following key changes are necessary: * Require Open Platform Services to be tariffed at reasonable, affordable rates; * Strengthen non-discriminatory video dialtone access rules and eliminate current five year sunset provision; * Add information infrastructure access to the definition of universal service, and ensure public interest participation in redefinition of universal service obligations; * Ensure that all telecommunication providers pay a fair share of universal service costs. These are EFF's primary concerns about the bill. We hope to broaden our position and understanding of the bill based on the views of other interested groups. This is a summary of the main points of the legislation along with EFF positions and comments. OPEN PLATFORM Open platform service is designed to give residential subscribers access to voice, data, and video digital telephone service on a switched, end-to-end basis. With Open Platform service widely available, individuals and organizations would have ready access to a variety of important applications on the information highway, including distance learning, telemedicine, telecommuting, the Internet, and many more. The bill directs the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the policy changes needed to provide open platform service at affordable rates, but fails to require telecommunications carriers to tariff the service. ACTION NEEDED: The Open Platform concept should be enthusiastically supported, but the bill as written fails to ensure that Open Platform service will be widely available at affordable rates. Those who care about affordable, equitable access to new information media should demand that local telephone companies be required to tariff Open Platform services within a specific timeframe. ENTRY OF TELEPHONE COMPANIES INTO VIDEO PROGRAMMING The bill promotes the entry of telephone companies into video cable service and seeks to benefit consumers by spurring competition in the cable television industry. The bill would rescind the ban on telephone company ownership and delivery of video programming that was enacted in the Cable Act of 1984. Telephone companies would be allowed to provide video programming, through a separate subsidiary, to subscribers in its telephone service area. Telephone companies would be required to provide video services through a "video platform," that would be open, in part, to all video programming providers. The bill adopts a set of regulations originally proposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) called "Video Dialtone." Under video dialtone rules, telephone companies would be required to allow other content providers to offer video programming to subscribers using the same video platform as used by the telephone company, on a non-discriminatory basis. Other providers would be allowed to use up to 75 percent of the video platform capacity. To encourage telephone companies to actually invest in new information infrastructure, they would be prohibited from buying existing cable systems within their telephone service territory, with only tightly drawn exceptions. However, the video dialtone requirement would end in five years, after which telephone companies would have no requirement at all to provide non-discriminatory access to their video platform. ACTION NEEDED: Video dialtone is a useful starting point for structuring non-discriminatory video access, but its provisions must be strengthened. First, there should be no fixed expiration date for the video dialtone requirements. An open platform for video information is critical to the free flow of information in society. These requirements should be relaxed only when it is clear than there are sufficient alternatives throughout the country for distribution of video and multimedia information Alternatives would include widely available, affordable Open Platform service capable of carrying full-motion, video programming. Second, stronger safeguards against anti-competitive behavior are necessary. UNIVERSAL SERVICE One of the goals of the bill is to "preserve universal telecommunications at affordable rates." To achieve this goal, the bill would establish a joint Federal-State Board (made up of FCC members and state regulators) to devise a framework for ensuring continued universal service. The Board would be required to define the nature and extent of the services encompassed within a telephone company's universal service obligation. The Board also would be charged with promoting access to advanced telecommunications technology. The FCC is required to prescribe standards necessary to ensure that advances in network capabilities and services deployed by common carriers are designed to be accessible to individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden is posed by such requirements. Additionally, within one year of enactment, the bill requires the FCC to initiate an inquiry to examine the effects of competition in the provision of both telephone exchange access and telephone exchange service furnished by rural carriers. ACTION NEEDED: Include an explicit requirement that advanced digital access services be included in the universal service definition as soon as is practical. Create a mechanism for public interest participation in the process of defining the components of universal service in the information age. VIDEO PLATFORM AND FRANCHISE REQUIREMENTS Any telephone company that establishes a video platform would be required to meet 1992 Cable Act standards concerning customer privacy rights, consumer protection, and customer service. Telephone companies would be required to meet the same standards as cable companies for diversity in commercial programming, to assure that the broadest possible information sources are made available to the public. Like cable companies, telephone companies would be required to comply with public, educational, and governmental (PEG) access rules. Telephone companies also would be required to meet standards concerning re-transmission consent for cable systems. Some Cable Act requirements concerning cable companies would expressly not be applicable to telephone companies. These include: general franchise requirements; franchise fees; regulation of rates; regulation of services, facilities, and equipment; consumer electronics equipment compatibility; modification of franchise obligations; renewal proposals; conditions of sale; unauthorized reception of cable service; equal employment; limitation on franchising authority liability; and coordination of federal, state, and local authority. Instead of Cable Act compliance, the legislation provides that a video programming affiliate of any telephone company that establishes a video platform would be subject to the payment of fees imposed by a local franchising authority. The rate at which these fees would be imposed cannot exceed the rate at which franchise fees are imposed on any operator transmitting video programming in the same service area. LOCAL COMPETITION In order to promote competition in local telecommunications service, the bill requires that local telephone companies open their networks to competitors who wish to interconnect with the public switched telephone network. These interconnect rules will enable any other network operator to offer basic telephone service as well as advanced data services in direct competition with the local phone company. The FCC would be required to establish rules for compensating local telephone companies for providing interconnection and equal access. ACTION NEEDED: Local competition can be a benefit to consumers and spur the development of innovative new services, as long as all interconnecting networks pay their fair share of the cost of using the public telephone network. All who interconnect should be required to support the cost of basic universal service. For More Information Contact: Daniel J. Weitzner, Senior Staff Counsel <djw () eff org> Copies of the legislation and this summary are available on EFF's Internet FTP site: ftp.eff.org, in the folder /pub/eff/legislation/HR3636 and HR3636-summary. ...................................................................... Daniel J. Weitzner, Senior Staff Counsel <djw () eff org> Electronic Frontier Foundation 202-347-5400 (v) 1001 G St, NW Suite 950 East 202-393-5509 (f) Washington, DC 20001 *** Join EFF!!! Send mail to membership () eff org for information ***
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- EFF Position on Markey/Fields Infrastructure Bill David Farber (Dec 08)