Monday, December 04, 2006
FCC shopping for AT&T's Christmas present
UPDATE: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman to be Inouye, House Commerce Committee Chairman to be Dingell and House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Markey have written to FCC Chairman Martin urging him to leave FCC Commissioner McDowell alone. More here.
-------
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has shown again how little he values Net Neutrality.
He says the FCC is at "an impasse" in the AT&T-BellSouth merger, because a vote today would be a 2-2 tie. (Commissioners Copps and Adelstein won't vote for the merger without guarantees of Net Neutrality.) Martin is asking the FCC's general counsel to rule that the fifth commissioner, Robert McDowell, does not have a conflict of interest in this matter. McDowell's previous job as Senior VP of Comptel involved him in anti-merger lobbying. Comptel definitely believes that small telcos are beautiful. So McDowell is wisely sitting on the sidelines to avoid even the appearance of a conflict. On the other hand, McDowell is a Republican; perhaps Kevin Martin knows that McDowell will vote for the merger . . . with conditions, maybe, but probably weaker conditions than Copps and Adelstein would insist upon.
This "impasse" is of Chairman Martin's own making. Martin could say that the United States does not need this merger -- and certainly no telecom customers are storming the FCC's gates demanding it! Or he could adopt a compromise position on Network Neutrality himself.
But Martin knows the merged ATT-BS will be much more valuable to its shareholders with Net Discrimination than without it. So when Martin says, "Impasse," what he's really saying is that his merger will come with permission for ATT-BS, in its sole discretion, to decide that its partners get full Internet performance while other Internet users suffer some form of degradation.
Martin would say he's simply following the dictum of the 1996 Telecom Act that says competition works better than regulation. He's right. The biggest competitors are winning.
The vote is likely to come at the FCC's December 20 meeting. AT&T head Ed Whitacre is looking forward to a merry Christmas. Netheads can anticipate lumps of coal.
-------
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has shown again how little he values Net Neutrality.
He says the FCC is at "an impasse" in the AT&T-BellSouth merger, because a vote today would be a 2-2 tie. (Commissioners Copps and Adelstein won't vote for the merger without guarantees of Net Neutrality.) Martin is asking the FCC's general counsel to rule that the fifth commissioner, Robert McDowell, does not have a conflict of interest in this matter. McDowell's previous job as Senior VP of Comptel involved him in anti-merger lobbying. Comptel definitely believes that small telcos are beautiful. So McDowell is wisely sitting on the sidelines to avoid even the appearance of a conflict. On the other hand, McDowell is a Republican; perhaps Kevin Martin knows that McDowell will vote for the merger . . . with conditions, maybe, but probably weaker conditions than Copps and Adelstein would insist upon.
This "impasse" is of Chairman Martin's own making. Martin could say that the United States does not need this merger -- and certainly no telecom customers are storming the FCC's gates demanding it! Or he could adopt a compromise position on Network Neutrality himself.
But Martin knows the merged ATT-BS will be much more valuable to its shareholders with Net Discrimination than without it. So when Martin says, "Impasse," what he's really saying is that his merger will come with permission for ATT-BS, in its sole discretion, to decide that its partners get full Internet performance while other Internet users suffer some form of degradation.
Martin would say he's simply following the dictum of the 1996 Telecom Act that says competition works better than regulation. He's right. The biggest competitors are winning.
The vote is likely to come at the FCC's December 20 meeting. AT&T head Ed Whitacre is looking forward to a merry Christmas. Netheads can anticipate lumps of coal.
Technorati Tags: AT&T, BellSouth, Competition, FCC, KevinMartin, NetworkNeutrality, Regulatorium
Comments:
Post a Comment
