For Immediate Release: July 1, 1999

(The following statement should be attributed to the members of the Competitive Broadband Coalition.)

This legislation would undermine some of the important competitive provisions contained in the 1996 Telecommunications Act that are driving deployment of broadband services today.  If enacted, the bill, in effect, would give monopoly RBOCs and GTE free rein to enter long distance data without any safeguards.  At the same time, the legislation dilutes incentives for these companies to perform and meet their promises to open local markets.

Competition is beginning to thrive.  What this approach fails to recognize is that MORE competition--not regulatory quid pro quo or rewrites of the Act--is the catalyst for faster deployment of advanced data services. Consumers already know that competition brings better products and services and lower prices-the opening of the long distance market is ample testimony.The Telecom Act was created with that idea in mind, and the process createdby the Act should be enforced.

The RBOCs and GTE already have the means to provide broadband services if they meet their obligations under the Act.  Interestingly, they are already doing so in markets where new competitors are attempting to offer services, while they have been selling off exchanges or not providing service at all in rural areas.   Congress shouldn't allow itself to be fooled into short circuiting the Telecom Act.  Our companies and the billions of dollars they have invested to bring new products and services to American consumers are evidence that the Act is working.   We encourage Congress to look more closely and to continue to uphold the Act and encourage regulators to vigorously enforce it.