From COMMUNICATIONS DAILY'S
WASHINGTON TELECOM NEWSWIRE ...

NTIA Dir. Gregory Rohde railed at lawmakers who are considering altering the Telecom Act through interLATA data legislation that would provide certain kinds of relief to ILECs prior to receiving Sec. 271 approval to offer long distance. House Commerce Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) and Commerce Committee ranking Democrat John Dingell (Mich.) are cosponsoring legislation that would provide so-called interLATA data relief to ILECs. Tauzin is holding a hearing Thurs. on provision of broadband services. "Despite the progress being made under the pro-competitive approach of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, some in Congress are talking about changing directions," Rohde said in a speech at the National Press Club. "Under the veil of deregulation for data services some are talking about stopping the progress of competition....Walking away from the Act's pro-competitive provisions at this point would be a serious mistake," he said. Rohde dismissed contentions that "sequence matters." He said: "The Act is indeed about deregulation, ultimately; however, consumers will not benefit through deregulation of monopoly services."

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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