Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Telecom "Reform," ILEC style
UPDATE: If you're wondering who "The Heartland Institute" is, look here and here.
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Check out the Heartland Institute's Telecom Reform Conference, held last week in Chicago. According to the blurb,
The Friday agenda reads like chapter headings from the recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce report on telecom deregulation:Panel: Economic Benefits of Deregulation
Panel: Discriminatory Telecom Taxes
Panel: Obsolescence of Telecom Regulation
Panel: Reform of Universal ServiceThen, for those who could stay for Saturday's session, there wasPanel: Municipally Owned Broadbandincluding panelists, Joseph L. "Risky for Taxpayers, No Boon to Economic Development" Bast, Phil "Limits High-Speed Access" Montgomery, and Ron "those systems are not profitable" Rizzuto and no spokes-folks to speak in favor of muni networks.
The last item on the agenda,Panel: Competition in Telecom Marketfeatured James L. "limiting mandatory unbundling rules" Gattuso, Diane S. "regulation stymies competition" Katz and Paul "SBC General Council" Mancini, but nobody who represented independent ISPs.
The Heartland Institute doesn't seem to be especially friendly to cablecos or mobile operators, either, even though they point out that these are the major sources of "free market" competition. It is obvious from the panel names that the Heartland Institute is the man from I.L.E.C.
"Real digital entrepreneurs," my back office.
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Check out the Heartland Institute's Telecom Reform Conference, held last week in Chicago. According to the blurb,
Other conferences take place in the political hothouse of Washington, DC, where lobbyists and bureaucrats outnumber elected officials and real digital entrepreneurs . . .Of the 26 speakers on the program, six are elected officials, but 16 are lobbyists and NONE are "real digital entrepreneurs." (I count a lobbyist as somebody whos main job is to shape opinion and legislation without being a legislator.) Check out the list and see if you agree with me.
The Friday agenda reads like chapter headings from the recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce report on telecom deregulation:Panel: Economic Benefits of Deregulation
Panel: Discriminatory Telecom Taxes
Panel: Obsolescence of Telecom Regulation
Panel: Reform of Universal ServiceThen, for those who could stay for Saturday's session, there wasPanel: Municipally Owned Broadbandincluding panelists, Joseph L. "Risky for Taxpayers, No Boon to Economic Development" Bast, Phil "Limits High-Speed Access" Montgomery, and Ron "those systems are not profitable" Rizzuto and no spokes-folks to speak in favor of muni networks.
The last item on the agenda,Panel: Competition in Telecom Marketfeatured James L. "limiting mandatory unbundling rules" Gattuso, Diane S. "regulation stymies competition" Katz and Paul "SBC General Council" Mancini, but nobody who represented independent ISPs.
The Heartland Institute doesn't seem to be especially friendly to cablecos or mobile operators, either, even though they point out that these are the major sources of "free market" competition. It is obvious from the panel names that the Heartland Institute is the man from I.L.E.C.
"Real digital entrepreneurs," my back office.
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