Copyright 2002 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  

The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
February 27, 2002 Wednesday, Home Edition
SECTION: Business; Pg. 5D

LENGTH: 457 words

HEADLINE: Atlanta Tech: House ready to tackle broadband bill;
Opponents say passage would unfairly favor Bells, hurt ISPs

BYLINE: MARILYN GEEWAX

SOURCE: Cox Washington Bureau

BODY:
This year, one business topic has stolen the spotlight in Congress: Enron.

But today, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on a bill that many tech and telecommunications companies view as the most important in years.

Backers say the Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act --- better known by the names of its main sponsors, Reps. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) and John Dingell (D-Mich.) --- will bring high-speed Internet connections to far more telephone customers. That's the key to reigniting the nation's technology boom, they claim.

Tauzin said he is very optimistic about the bill's chances for passage in the House. "The logic and facts are on our side," he said in an interview. "Why shouldn't it pass?"

Opponents, including Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (D-S.C.), whose Senate Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over the bill, insist it would give consumers fewer and more expensive choices for high-speed Internet access.

On the Senate floor this week, Hollings called the bill a "blasphemy" and a "monopoly grab" that will let the Bell companies "eliminate" competition.

Tauzin said he believes the Senate will find a way to bring the bill to a vote. "The Senate will be tough on this issue," he said. "But I learned a long time ago that until you put it into their lap, they generally don't take a close look at it. So we're going to put it in their lap."

Regardless of what happens in Congress, the bill's main provisions may be advanced by the Federal Communications Commission, which is reviewing access issues. But opponents of the bill believe they might get a better outcome if the FCC deals with broadband access than if Congress rewrites the law.

"When you have to play the game under the current law, it will be much harder" to allow the Baby Bells to shape the rules the way they want them, said Mark Cooper, research director of the Consumer Federation of America.

Backers of the Tauzin-Dingell bill say the new law would spur the regional Bell telephone companies to invest in high-speed networks by freeing them from a requirement that they share the upgraded networks with competitors at regulated rates.

If broadband were more readily available, electronic commerce, telemedicine and online learning would explode in popularity, supporters say.

But small Internet service providers say Tauzin-Dingell would wipe out the regional phone companies' competition in the DSL business. Without regulators guaranteeing access to the broadband networks, "the smaller ISPs would be toast," Cooper said.

Opponents of Tauzin-Dingell have been alluding to the Enron scandal in their televised ads to argue that a lack of regulatory oversight leads to business disasters.

LOAD-DATE: February 27, 2002