Copyright 1999 Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service
MAY 26, 1999, WEDNESDAY
SECTION: IN THE NEWS
LENGTH:
1770 words
HEADLINE: PREPARED STATEMENT OF
GLORIA
TRISTANI
FCC COMMISSIONER
BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEE
ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE AND TRANSPORTATION
BODY:
Good morning Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee. I am pleased to
be here today to discuss the role of the FCC as we continue to work toward the
goal set forth in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 of opening
telecommunications markets to competition for the benefit of all Americans. I'm
also pleased to report that we have made some progress in the past year. I
wanted to update the Committee on some things we have accomplished and where we
might go from here.
First and foremost is universal service. In rural states
like my home state of New Mexico, universal service permits average Americans to
have phone service who otherwise would not be able to afford it. Right now, we
are working to ensure that universal service support does not erode as
competition develops. I believe the Commission will take important steps at
tomorrow's Agenda meeting to resolve key issues relating to high-cost support
for non-rural carriers. The Commission not only will address the recommendations
that the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service submitted for its
consideration last November but also will take additional steps toward
implementing the economic model that will ultimately be used to determine
support amounts. Both at the Commission and as a member of the Joint Board, I
have been pleased to observe the increasingly cooperative relationship between
federal and state commissioners in fulfilling Congress' goals for universal
service reform.
One aspect of universal service that is particularly
important to me is connecting unserved areas. In enacting Section 254, Congress
told us not only to "preserve" but to "advance" universal service. I see no more
worthy means of advancing universal service than to devise creative solutions to
problem of unserved areas. In many of these areas, customers remain unserved
because the alternative is to pay the local phone company thousands of dollars
to have a line extended to their home. This is unacceptable. I believe the
federal government, in the interest of advancing universal service, must take a
more active role in connecting all Americans.
I would note that many
unserved areas are on Indian lands, and that Indians are among the poorest
groups of Americans. Chairman Kennard has recognized this problem, and I commend
his leadership on this issue. Earlier this year, the Chairman and I held a field
hearing in New Mexico where we took testimony and visited Indian reservations to
learn firsthand about the causes of this problem and some possible solutions.
Subsequently, Commissioner Ness and Commissioner Furchtgott-Roth joined Chairman
Kennard for similar field hearings in Arizona. Those hearings marked the
beginning of a real commitment in the area of telecommunications to better
fulfill the federal government's trust obligation with respect to Indians living
on reservations.In addition, I would like to express my continuing support for
the e-rate program. I plan to cast my vote at tomorrow's Agenda meeting to fully
fund the e-rate program at $2.25 billion for the upcoming school year. I
appreciate the support that many in Congress have expressed for our
implementation of this program, which I believe is a crucial step toward
improving education in this country and preparing the United States to compete
in the new global economy. The goals of the program are sound and I am convinced
that the e-rate funds that have recently been committed to schools and libraries
around the country will generate enormous social and economic benefits for the
nation in the years ahead.
Another way in which we can provide all Americans
access to telecommunications is to fully and meaningfully implement Section
255's mandate that telecommunications services be "accessible to and usable by
individuals with disabilities, if readily achievable." In implementing this
requirement, we must recognize not only that the telecommunications sector is
one of the largest and fastest growing in our economy, but also that it plays a
crucial foundational role in our society. The ability to use telecommunications
is now a prerequisite for many jobs, making access to such services vital to
those 54 million Americans with disabilities. While I look forward to completing
our Section 255 rulemaking soon, we must not stop there. Our commitment to
access should be ongoing. Future rulemakings should routinely examine the effect
of the proposed action on people with disabilities. Another of my priorities is
effective implementation of our enhanced 911 rules forwireless providers. In our
mobile society, wireless phones play a vital public safety role. We recently
adopted new requirements for improved 911 call completion, and I am eager to
proceed with resolution of remaining implementation issues such as technology
choice, costrecovery and liability limitations. I also applaud the initiatives
pending in Congress on liability and designating 911 as a national emergency
number.
An area of increasing importance to all Americans is
broadband deployment. Access to broadband capacity will be a
crucial tool for our citizens to compete in the information economy of the 21st
century. In Section 706 of the 1996 Act, Congress directed the Commission to
monitor the roll-out of advanced telecommunications capability, and, if
necessary, take steps to ensure that all Americans have access to such
capability on a reasonable and timely basis. This year, we issued our first
Section 706 Report, which was guardedly optimistic about the state of
broadband deployment while recognizing that it is still too
early in the process to declare victory. Indeed, with respect to rural and other
hard-toserve areas, I remain more guarded than optimistic. I am not yet
convinced that these Americans will have access to advanced services on a
reasonable and timely basis. This is an area I will continue to pursue
aggressively, consistent with Congress' intent. Indeed, in the past week we
received a letter from ten Senators setting forth several specific and
thoughtful suggestions on how we could encourage the deployment of advanced
services to rural areas. I look forward to working with members of Congress to
ensure that rural consumers will not be left behind as advanced
telecommunications services become a marketplace reality in manyareas of the
country.
I believe there are two ways to accelerate the rollout of advanced
services. The first is to ensure that competitors have access to the basic
building blocks of advanced services that are controlled by incumbent LECs. That
includes things like conditioned local loops and collocation space. Competitors
can then combine those inputs with their own advanced services equipment to
offer high speed connections to end users. The Commission recently strengthened
its collocation rules and in the near future the Commission will, I hope,
formally reinstate the requirement that conditioned loops be made available to
competitors.
The second way to spur advanced services is to make sure we're
not overregulating the provision of those services by incumbent LECs. I
recognize that there may be markets where, unlike the market for basic local
telephone service, incumbents do not have a hundredyear head start. We need to
think carefully before applying rules that may be ill-suited for such emerging
markets. If we proceed thoughtfully in this area, I am optimistic that the FCC's
policies will provide the right incentives for both new entrants and incumbents
to furnish the bandwidth that millions of consumers are asking for.
On the
broadcast side, one of the things that we have been working on to broaden
opportunities for all Americans are new rules on Equal Employment Opportunity.
As the Committee is aware, this past year a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the District of"
Columbia Circuit struck down the outreach portions of
our previous EEO rules because it believed (wrongly, I think) that our rules
effectively required hiring decisions based on race. We are working on new rules
that will address the court's concerns while ensuring that all segments of the
community have the opportunity to participate in, own, and see themselves
reflected in, the media that has such a pervasive impact on our nation's
cultural and political life.
There are those who question whether we can
craft new EEO rules that will withstand judicial review. I do not doubt that any
rules we adopt will be challenged in court, and I have no illusions that some
will argue that even the most modest EEO rules require the strictest judicial
scrutiny. But if the burden of proof is high, so are the stakes. I believe we
must make every effort to develop a meaningful EEO program that can and will be
sustained.
Although much of the Commission's work addresses the broad
structure of the telecommunications industry, the actions I've drawn the most
satisfaction from are those that directly improve the daily lives of average
Americans. That is why I strongly supported the rules we adopted last December
to combat slamming. I am profoundly disappointed that the D.C. Circuit stayed a
significant portion of those rules last week, just as they were about to become
effective. In the wake of the stay, I continue to support the Commission's
aggressive enforcement efforts against slammers, which I hope and expect will
reduce the frequency with which consumers are slammed until we have new rules in
place.Another consumer issue in which I've been intensely interested is the
V-chip. This is the year that the V-chip will finally become a reality in the
lives of average Americans. By July 1, half of the new television models with
screens thirteen inches or larger must have a V-chip installed. By January 1,
2000, all such sets must have a V- chip. This will empower parents to protect
their children from material that they deem unsuitable for their children. I
commend you, Mr. Chairman, and other members of this Committee for your early
and vigorous leadership on this issue.
I was honored to have been appointed
by Chairman Kennard to head an FCC Task Force to ensure that the impending
roll-out of the V-chip is a success. One of the most important objectives of the
Task Force is to ensure that all parts of the blocking system are in place and
working, so that a parent who buys a TV set can be assured that the blocking
function will work. We also will be working with various industry, consumer and
other groups to educate parents about the V- chip and how it can be used in
their daily lives.
Once again, I appreciate the opportunity to testify
before you today.
END
LOAD-DATE: May 27, 1999
