Copyright 1999 Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service
JULY 27, 1999, TUESDAY
SECTION: IN THE NEWS
LENGTH:
1016 words
HEADLINE: PREPARED TESTIMONY OF
MS.
MAUREEN LEWIS
GENERAL COUNSEL
ALLIANCE FOR PUBLIC TECHNOLOGY
BEFORE
THE HOUSE SMALL BUSINESS COMMITTEE
EMPOWERMENT SUBCOMMITTEE
BODY:
Good afternoon Chairman Pitts,
Congresswoman Millender-McDonald, and other members of the subcommittee. My name
is Maureen Lewis and I am the General Counsel of the Alliance for Public
Technology or APT. Thank you for inviting me here to discuss the alarming growth
in what has come to be known as the "digital divide." Unfortunately, the digital
divide is wide and deep, and it describes the disparity between those who have
access to information and new technologies and those who do not. The divide has
the potential of exacerbating the problems of people who already lack quality
education, affordable health care, satisfactory employment and decent housing.
Telemedicine, local and distance learning, and telecommuting, among other
applications, are possible through emerging high speed, high capacity networks,
which permit users to send and receive voice, data, graphics and video using
telephone, cable, wireless, and satellite technologies. These broadband networks
can connect people and help communities to address some of their pressing
problems, but only if the networks reach everyone, everywhere. For more than ten
years, the Alliance for Public Technology has been advocating for public
policies that promote access to affordable, usable information and
communications tools for all consumers, regardless of their income level, place
of residence or physical limitations. APT is a national non-profit coalition of
individuals and a variety of organizations, such as the National Urban League,
the American Foundation of the Blind, the National Association of Community
Action Agencies, the National Education Association, and many others that serve
senior citizens, people with disabilities, low income families, rural residents,
and small business owners.
Recently, APT has been defending the interests of
consumers in the telecommunications revolution by urging the Federal
Communications Commission to implement Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act
of 1996. That provision commands State commissions and the Federal
Communications Commission to "encourage the deployment on a reasonable and
timely basis of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans,"
through use of various regulatory methods and market incentives.
In
February, 1999, the FCC issued a report concluding that deployment of advanced
telecommunications capability is proceeding satisfactorily. The Alliance
disputes this conclusion and remains concerned that the new high speed network
providers are bypassing many inner city and rural areas, competing instead for
lucrative, high volume, large business users. Consequently, millions of
residential and small business consumers are falling into the digital divide.
To combat this problem, APT has been advocating that the FCC undertake a
number of measures, such as eliminating certain rules that we believe have
discouraged large telephone companies, with their virtually ubiquitous systems,
from widely deploying broadband infrastructure. In addition, the Alliance has
urged the Commission actively to stimulate deployment of advanced
telecommunications networks in communities that have been left behind. For
example, we have suggested that the FCC develop policies that foster
partnerships between community based organizations, which pool their demand for
services, and telecommunications providers. The partners would work together to
develop technology applications that address the critical needs of traditionally
underserved communities. APT believes that these partnerships will help to
educate communities about the benefits of telecommunications infrastructure,
while demonstrating to providers the viability and sustainability of markets
they typically overlook as unprofitable.
APT has long believed that
community efforts to aggregate demand for telecommunications products and
services can help to attract providers. Accordingly, APT has suggested that
Congress clarify that incumbent local telephone companies may offer at wholesale
rates digital subscriber lines (DSL), a broadband technology offered through
conditioned copper telephone lines, and other advanced services to entities that
are ineligible for the wholesale rates presently available only to
telecommunications carriers. One of the major barriers to demand aggregation is
the absence of meaningful economic incentives for communities themselves to
undertake the costs of aggregation. Therefore, availability of wholesale rates
for advanced services could provide an important catalyst for community based
organizations, municipalities, academic, medical and other non-profit
organizations to resell such services to residents and small businesses.
As
another way of promoting demand aggregation, APT has been working with the
National Association of State Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) to
develop a proposal that enables state and federal regulators to work together on
implementing Section 706. The proposal asks the Commission to convene an ongoing
Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services to address the challenges of
providing advanced services to residents of low income and rural communities and
to people with disabilities. The conferees, with input from consumers, industry,
and other stakeholders would, among other things:
1. monitor the scope and
pace of advanced telecommunications deployment;
2. develop deployment
strategies that include private initiatives and leveraging federal programs of
the National Telecommunications Information Administration, the Rural Utility
Service, and the Small Business Administration, among other agencies;
3.
disseminate best practices and other information; and
4. experiment in
selected underserved rural and urban communities with encouraging investment of
public and private resources, consumer education, regulatory methods, and other
initiatives in these "706 zones" as ways of promoting broadband
deployment in those areas.
Thank you for the
opportunity to tell you about the ways APT is fighting the digital divide. I
welcome any questions you may have.
END
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