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Washington -- House Commerce Committee chairman Tom Bliley (R-Va.) said Thursday that he is opposed to legislation that would deregulate data services of the Baby Bell phone companies before the firms have opened their voice networks to competition.

Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Baby Bells are barred from long distance until they meet a 14-point competitive checklist overseen by the Federal Communications Commission. Only Bell Atlantic Corp. in one state -- New York -- has satisfied that requirement.

At a press conference, Bliley said it was unnecessary to waive the checklist for Baby Bell provision of data, as proposed by Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) in a bill (H.R. 2420) that has 144 co-sponsors.

"I think there is nothing to prevent the [Bells] from offering new services today," Bliley said. "But to allow them to get into digital long distance before they have completed the checkoff list at this point in time is probably premature."

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The Competitive Broadband Coalition members include the Association of Communications Enterprises (ASCENT), the Association for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS), AT&T, the Commercial Internet eXchange Association (CIX), CompTel (Competitive Telecommunications Association), Cable & Wireless, Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), Montana Telecommunications Association, Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA), Sprint, Touch America and WorldCom. More information can be found at http://www.competitivebroadband.org/1041/home.jsp