Re: FCC/Telco issues (fwd)

["Renard Martin" <rmartin@mnsinc.com>]

  Hey, welcome back.  I take it you enjoyed your trip to India?
  
  Marty
  
  Renard (Marty) Martin
  mailto: rmartin@mnsinc.com
  Herndon, VA 20170
  
  ----------
  > From: James Love <love@tap.org>
  > To: Multiple recipients of list <isdn@essential.org>
  > Subject: IP: FCC/Telco issues (fwd)
  > Date: Thursday, November 21, 1996 12:45 AM
  > 
  > new coalition on ISPs and network access fees.
  > jamie
  > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
  > Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 19:42:35 -0500
  > From: Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
  > To: interesting-people mailing list <interesting-people@eff.org>
  > Subject: IP: FCC/Telco issues
  > 
  > WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1996 NOV 15 (NB) -- By Bill Pietrucha.
  > Internet users, take heart. A number of information technology
  > companies and trade associations are trying to keep Internet usage fees
  > from climbing. Yesterday marked the advent of the DATA Coalition,
  > formed to protect consumers from efforts by Incumbent Local
  > Exchange Carriers (ILECs) to hike fees for Internet usage.
  >  
  > The Coalition, chaired by the Information Technology Association of
  > America (ITAA), and the Information Technology Industry Council
  > (ITI), is designed to ensure that the Federal Communications
  > Commission (FCC) doesn't require Internet users to pay more for
  > access through the same old voice telephone network; and to ensure
  > that the FCC encourages the deployment of computer-friendly
  > telecommunications technology and the introduction of true local
  > competition.
  >  
  > According to ITI president, Rhett Dawson, the Coalition maintains that
  > the local telephone companies have been slow to provide data-friendly
  > digital connections and are resisting the introduction of competition.
  > Dawson said that Coalition members "believe the health and continued
  > growth of the Internet are at stake."
  > 
  > "Ironically, these same local telephone companies that have failed to
  > provide efficient data network alternatives and are aggressively
  > marketing second telephone lines for Internet access are now
  > complaining about excessive demand on their networks," Dawson
  > said. "Their solution is to charge Internet users new fees before
  > providing advanced technology that is appropriate for handling online
  > data traffic."
  >  
  > ITAA president, Harris Miller, concurred. "In a truly competitive
  > environment, everyone need only pay for the access that he or she
  > needs," Miller said. "This is what the Internet age demands. But in the
  > meantime, we reject the idea that the Internet users pay for parts of the
  > voice telephone network they don't need, that isn't even appropriate to
  > handle data traffic."
  >  
  > "While the rest of the world zooms toward the 21st Century, the
  > ILECs are trotting back toward the 19th," Miller said.
  >  
  > "We believe the phone companies' arguments are economically and
  > technically unsound," said Intel's Paul Meisner. Meisner chairs the
  > Coalition's Steering Committee.
  >  
  > "We will identify alternatives to the phone companies' approach to the
  > growing demand for Internet services that are more efficient," Meisner
  > said. He added that "our solutions would eliminate congestion on the
  > networks, significantly improve the quality of Internet access, and
  > result in a healthier competitive environment."
  >  
  > According to the Coalition, the Internet charge issue could be raised by
  > the FCC in December as part of its rulemaking on access charge
  > reform. These new rules will determine what the local phone
  > companies can charge for access to their networks.
  >  
  > Under current rules, enhanced service providers (ESPs), such as
  > Internet service providers, are classified as "users" and do not pay
  > access charges, Meisner told Newsbytes.
  >  
  > Access charges, Meisner explained, are per-minute fees paid by long
  > distance and telephone companies to ILECs for originating and
  > terminating long distance calls.
  >  
  > Although many local telephone companies have announced they will
  > ask the FCC to make ESPs pay these additional charges as a means of
  > reducing Internet and other enhanced services traffic, Meisner said, the
  > DATA Coalition "believes it would be more appropriate for the FCC to
  > address ESP access in a separate proceeding, to be undertaken as soon
  > as possible, on new telecommunications technology.
  >  
  > In addition to ITI and ITAA, the Coalition includes the American
  > Electronics Association (AEA) and the Business Software Alliance
  > (BSA). Companies represented by the DATA Coalition include
  > America Online, Apple, Compaq, Compuserve, Digital Equipment
  > Corporation, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Netscape, Novell and Oracle.
  >  
  > (19961115/Press Contact: Bob Cohen, ITAA, tel 703-284-5333)
  >  
  >  
  >  From www.nbnn.com
  >