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| MCCAIN
STATEMENT ON INTERNET FREEDOM AND BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT
ACT OF 2002 |
| For Immediate Release |
| Saturday, Apr 20, 2002 |
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Washington, DC – U.S. Senator John McCain
(R-AZ) today made the following statement at the Senate
Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing
on the Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of
2002:
"I would like to thank Chairman Hollings
for holding this hearing on the important issue of
broadband deployment. I also want to thank Congressmen
Billy Tauzin and John Dingell for appearing before the
Committee.
"In 1996, Congress passed the first
major overhaul of telecommunications policy in 62 years.
Supporters of the Telecommunications Act argued that it
would create increased competition, provide consumers
with a variety of new and innovative services at lower
prices, and reduce the need for regulation. My principal
objection to the Act was that it fundamentally
regulated, not deregulated, the telecommunications
industry and would lead inevitably to prolonged
litigation. It has been six years since the passage of
the Act, but consumers have yet to benefit from lower
prices or a competitive marketplace as promised by the
Act's proponents. In fact, local telephone rates are up
17%, cable rates are up 36%, and some companies are now
raising rates on basic long distance service. I believe
that Congress must face reality, and deal realistically,
with these obvious problems.
"The latest debate
in the telecommunications industry has focused on the
purported need to accelerate the deployment of broadband
services. A 2002 Department of Commerce report entitled
"A Nation Online" states that less than 11% of Americans
currently subscribe to broadband services. When it comes
to these services, there is stark disagreement about
whether there is a supply problem, a demand problem, a
combination of the two, or no problem at all. The one
thing all parties agree on is that Americans and our
national economy will benefit greatly from the
widespread use of broadband services.
"Given
broadband's great promise, I believe we should make sure
that the government is not impeding timely deployment of
broadband services to more Americans. In order to
accomplish this goal, a truly deregulatory approach
cannot be narrowly focused on one particular segment of
the industry. Rather, I believe that such an approach
should seek deregulatory parity among all segments of
the telecommunications industry and ensure that,
ultimately, consumers will have more choices, higher
quality, and lower prices.
"Finally, I commend
FCC Chairman Michael Powell for his leadership in
working to find ways to stimulate the rollout of
broadband services across all industry segments. Under
Section 706 of the Act, Congress instructed the
Commission to, "encourage the deployment on a reasonable
and timely basis of advanced telecommunications
capability to all Americans, by utilizing…regulatory
forbearance, measures that promote competition in the
local telecommunications market, or other regulating
methods that remove barriers to infrastructure
investment." I believe that the Commission is working
diligently to fulfill their obligations set forth by
Congress in Section 706 of the Act.
"Again, I
thank the Chairman for today's hearing and I hope that
this is the first in a series of hearings on this
important issue." |
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