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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 25, 2000
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NEEL TO CONGRESS: Legislative Solution to Digital Divide Is To Deregulate the Internet and Lift InterLATA Restrictions on Data

Washington, D.C. -- Roy M. Neel, president and CEO of the United States Telecom Association (USTA), testified today before the House Telecommunications Subcommittee. He urged key policymakers to deregulate the Internet by lifting restrictions which prohibit Bell companies from carrying data across long distance boundaries within their service regions.

"There is a lot of talk and self congratulation among policymakers about not regulating the Internet," Neel said. "The fact is the Internet is being heavily regulated by outdated and misinterpreted laws and the refusal of the FCC to allow all consumers access to high-speed Internet services. By heavily regulating and even blocking data services across arbitrary boundaries, the Commission is applying severe backdoor regulation of the Internet."

Neel told Congress that current interLATA restrictions, which prohibit local telephone companies from transmitting data across LATA (local access and transport area) lines, are hurting consumers by limiting the availability of choices in the high speed Internet services marketplace, and by limiting the opportunity to expand the Internet backbone. "These LATA lines are the product of the 1982 AT&T breakup, so they clearly were not drawn with the Internet in mind," said Neel.

Neel warned that without legislation passed this year to deregulate high speed data services like digital subscriber line (DSL) and give consumers more choice for high-speed access to the Internet, Congress risks allowing the digital divide grow even wider, leaving rural areas without Internet backbone and hurting businesses. Neel said that USTA's members are committed to providing high-speed Internet access to customers throughout the nation, not slow dial-up access. He also said that without regulatory relief for new, advanced services, USTA's member companies will not be able to get these services to all of their customers.

"This burdensome regulation is so costly that it acts as a disincentive to deploying high-speed infrastructure," Neel said. "Further, these regulations are not applied to other comparable services such as cable modems that compete to provide high-speed Internet access."

"We support all members of Congress who have taken the lead on this issue and strongly urge that any legislative solution to the digital divide deregulate the offering of DSL and provide InterLATA relief to the Bell companies for data services," Neel said. For more than 100 years, USTA has been representing the interests of the small, mid-size and large companies of the nation's local exchange carrier industry. The association represents more than 1,200 companies worldwide that provide local exchange, long distance, wireless, Internet, and cable services.

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