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from: National Journal

Report: Telecom Legislation Fails To Address Broadband Access

By Michael Martinez

(Tuesday, September 12) Pending telecommunications legislation is unlikely to prevent the United States from falling further behind the rest of the world in its quest for universal high-speed Internet access, according to a report released by consumer advocates.

The report -- authored by Free Press, the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union -- found that current telecommunications proposals lack comprehensive strategies to increase the availability of broadband services while lowering prices for U.S. consumers.

The report also blamed the leadership of the FCC for not paying enough attention to the problem.

Statistics released earlier this year by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranked the United States 12th worldwide in broadband penetration for the second year in a row.

"Our policymakers are standing by while a third of the country lacks Internet access of any kind and another third remains on dial-up lines," the report said.

It continued: "American consumers pay more money for less broadband than any of the world's leading broadband nations. We have neither a competitive market nor a policy plan for making real broadband universal and affordable."

According to the report, lawmakers will make the telecommunications market less competitive if they fail to prevent dominant providers from charging premium rates to deliver their content over high-speed lines.

"Scrapping so-called network neutrality rules will not bring us better broadband," the report said. "But it will guarantee noncompetitive broadband markets for a generation."

The report also urged state lawmakers to act where both Congress and the FCC have been ineffective.

The paper advocated the removal of barriers to community-owned broadband systems, the opening of unlicensed spectrum for broadband services, and the modernization of the universal service fund, which aims to guarantee affordable communications services for low-income and rural Americans.

"It is apparent that state governments cannot rely on the FCC to tell them where service is deployed in their states, much less rely on the commission to foster competition within their states," according to the report.

The authors said federal regulators and lawmakers cannot afford to trust the "cable and telephone duopoly" if they are serious about meeting goals they have expressed to achieve universal broadband access in the United States.

"Regardless of the path U.S. policymakers choose, it is imperative that we guide the market toward some big ideas for our broadband future," the report said. "Absent that vision, we will continue to fall behind."

The report was cited Tuesday by "Democracy Now" host and executive producer Amy Goodman at a lecture on telecom ethics.

She charged that legislative policies which contribute to the "digital divide" between those with and those without access to technology threaten the democratic process and the ability of ordinary citizens to express themselves.

"We're talking about the silenced majority," Goodman said.

According to Goodman, telecom companies should be held to the same standards as those in other industries when it comes to providing services to low-income areas.

"If banks redline, it is against the law," she said. "If communications companies redline, it should be, too.