Connecting the Globe:  The Asia   Pacific Initiative
                          Remarks
             By FCC Chairman William E. Kennard
                         Before the
              Confederation of Indian Industry
                      New Delhi, India
                     September 22, 2000
       Thank you for that generous introduction.
       I had the pleasure of joining Prime Minister Vajpayee at a Washington luncheon,
  which was hosted by Vice President Al Gore during your Prime Minister's recent visit
  there.  It was a great moment for democracy.  Here, in one room, were leaders of two of
  the world's leading democracies: India, the world's largest democracy, and America, the
  world's oldest democracy.
       And it was heartening to hear the leaders of both nations speak of common
  themes: of linking our two societies more closely, and of harnessing the energies of both
  our democracies for the betterment of our own people, and for the people of the world.
       For our two societies are bound together by the power of certain ideas: the power
  of open and free elections, the power of an open and free press.
       Our predecessors, the seafarers of earlier centuries, explored continents.  They
  sought out each other then, as when the European explorers sought out India when they
  discovered what came to be called the West Indies, today's Caribbean nations.
       And we seek out each other now, as the new explorers of ideas.
       In the century that has just closed, my country received a powerful idea from
  yours. It was an idea that spared my country much bloodshed, and immeasurably advanced
  the cause of freedom in America.
       That was the idea of peaceful, nonviolent protest to achieve change, exemplified
  earlier in the century in your own nation by the teachings and actions of Mahatma Gandhi.
       This idea was carried to my country through Martin Luther King, Jr., who studied
  Gandhi as he prepared for the ministry at Boston College.
       King's sermons spread Gandhi's vision, and that vision became a major influence
  on my generation and on the maturing of my country into a modern democracy.
       Now I would like to reciprocate to your country with an idea of our own.
       Many of you have heard about the Initiative I launched last year that focuses FCC
  efforts to close closing the global digital divide.  Inspired by Vice President Gore's vision
  of a global information society   one that includes developing, emerging, and developed
  countries alike   we will provide policy and regulatory assistance to key countries that are
  taking action to sustain their place in the global information society.  We have selected
  countries that we believe are regional leaders for the developing world.  And there is no
  doubt that India is such a leader   not only for developing countries in Asia-Pacific, but in
  some cases for the developed world as well.
  This is the third continent I have had the privilege of visiting to introduce this
  Initiative.  To date we have forged successful, on-going partnerships in Africa, Latin
  America, and the Caribbean.
  Today I am pleased to announce the commencement of the Initiative in the Asia Pacific
  region and to report to you that we signed the first work plan for the region right here in
  Delhi.
       With each new continent, the Initiative achieves a higher level of promise,
  as the practices the Initiative advocates are linked and reinforced around the world.
       The key organizing principle for the Initiative's "best practices" is
  competition - - competitive choice in every aspect of the telecommunications market.
  But we don't advocate competition simply for competition's sake; competition is the
  means of achieving universal access to telecommunications.  This is the primary goal of
  our efforts   one that I know that we share.
  We have found that competition invests a market with an amazing and constructive
  set of incentives.   It exerts an upward pressure on service, choice and innovation, at the
  same time is exerts a downward pressure on waste, duplication and prices.
  Here are the Initiative's best practices:
            Multiple, privately-owned service providers that give consumers choices and
          constrain rates.
            Independent regulatory agencies with the power to pry open monopolies, and
          the discipline to deregulate when monopolies yield to competition, and
          agencies that make decisions in an open, transparent way.
            Efficient spectrum management, cost-based interconnection, and widespread
          universal service.
  The roots of these principles go back to 1994, when U.S. Vice President Al Gore
  presented the best of what my country had learned during the early stages of the current
  information revolution to the ITU Development Conference in Buenos Aires.  Those
  recommendations were later incorporated into the World Trade Organization's Basic
  Telecommunications Agreement.
       Vice President Gore laid out the principles for how each country can become part
  of a Global Information Infrastructure, or "GII," a worldwide network of networks - - and
  how each country can participate in the new information economy.
  To advance these principles, we have signed agreements with South Africa,
  Uganda, Ghana, Argentina, Jamaica and Peru, and today we announce that we have signed
  an agreement with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India.  We also will
  begin to work cooperatively with Thailand under the Initiative in the next several days.
  And we are also very near to finalizing an agreement with regulators in the Philippines.
       As I said, we selected these nations because we believe they can serve as catalysts
  for change in their regions, and because their telecommunications environments are
  receptive to the kind of change envisioned by the GII.
  The agreements we are entering into are two-way partnerships in which we share ideas
  and experiences on, among other things, open markets, competition, spectrum
  management, licensing, and agency procedure and process.  These partnerships allow us to
  demonstrate the critical links between privatization and investment, and competition and
  universal service.  They also allow us to discuss practical ways of implementing good
  policy in these areas.
  We also have designed a set of courses that highlight the practical aspects of these
  topics.  I'm pleased to announce that we have just entered into an agreement with Cisco
  Systems to make this regulator's course available on-line in the future.
  Finally, we have made sure that we consult with our partners on a regular basis to ensure
  steady progress toward our goals.
       Turning centuries of monopoly into competitive markets is one of the
  hardest tasks the modern regulator can undertake.
       No incumbent monopoly yields to competition willingly.  Regulators must
  fight for cost-based interconnection, and for the end of hidden subsidies.  They must
  demonstrate that competition and universal access can coexist, and that privatization
  stimulates needed foreign investment.  Spectrum also must be aggressively managed in the
  interest of consumers and competition.
       These principles have worked in the U.S.
       Domestic long-distance rates in the U.S. have dropped nearly 56 percent in
  real terms since competition was introduced in 1984.  Some companies are offering
  services for as low as five-cents-a-minute.
  Universal service subsidies have helped us to attain 94 percent telephone penetration.
  Spectrum auctions have decreased by two-thirds the amount of time it takes to assign
  licenses, and ensure that the spectrum goes to those most eager to use it. Now seventy-
  five percent of Americans have a choice of five or more mobile carriers.  Americans enjoy
  the lowest wireless rates in our history.
  After we deregulated the equipment market in the mid-1970s, that market
  exploded with innovation.  Instead of being tied up with burdensome technical
  requirements, equipment such as telephones and answering machines, and computers and
  modems, proliferated to meet consumer choice.  The policy was so effective that by the
  mid-1990s, the entire telecommunications equipment industry had moved from a negative
  to a positive trade balance.
       These policies gave the Internet the launching pad it needed in the mid-
  1990s to get off to such a dramatic start in the U.S.
       Competitive long-distance services provided the fiber-optic backbone
  needed for the Internet, and local competition provided alternative ways to reach that
  backbone.
       Our equipment and data information decisions provided the computers, modems
  and software needed to feed a hungry Internet.
       Our flexible wireless policies have allowed the Internet to migrate from our
  desktops to the palms of our hands, setting the stage for lower cost broadband access.
  The number of Internet users in the U.S. has jumped from 27 million in 1996 to
  approximately 123.6 million today . . . a 350 % increase, or about 100 % a year.
       Our universal service subsidies have been expanded to help connect over 1 million
  school classrooms to the Internet.
       I am convinced that this story can be replicated world-wide to benefit consumers
  on every continent.  The GII will be truly global, and include an African information
  infrastructure, a Latin American/Caribbean information infrastructure, an Asia-Pacific
  information infrastructure, and a Central/Eastern European information infrastructure.
       India is no stranger to success in the information technology and
  telecommunications industries.  After all, your revenues for 1998-99 from these sectors
  totaled nearly $6.4 billion.
  We in the United States note with great admiration Prime Minister's Vajpayee's statement
  in January of this year that "the entire government, indeed the entire country, has now
  adopted promotion of IT as its strategic goal."  We commend the government of India for
  its new telecom law, its National Task Force on IT and Software development, the task
  force's bold action plan, and the venture capital fund.   We also applaud the courageous
  decision to open the long distance market to competition, and the decision to reform your
  cable landing policy, to allow ISPs to use their own international gateways.
  The fact that the government has already set up 12 software technology parks and along
  with the private sector is establishing the first hardware park in Hyderabad clearly signals
  that the importance of IT and telecom development.
       India's success in the software market, though relatively recent, is already
  legendary.  With an annual growth rate of more than 40%, and 1998-99 revenues of $2.65
  billion, the sector boasts 10% of the value of all Indian exports, and 20% of the global
  market for cross border customized software. India has emerged as an IT superpower.  I
  believe that your challenge now is to replicate that success by creating a world class, open,
  competitive telecommunications infrastructure.
       In this area, we have a clear interest in working together.  Our
  collaboration can help address some of the major hindrances to India's telecom
  development - bandwidth scarcity, service quality issues, and high interconnection prices.
  Our driving vision is an eventual world network of networks, affordable and
  accessible to all, with multiple broadband platforms, giving the people of the world the
  option of many digital platforms, including cable, high-speed copper, wireless, satellite,
  and broadcast.
  Earlier this year, I had the honor of travelling with President Clinton to a number
  of cities and towns in the United States to highlight his effort to close the digital divide in
  the United States.
  Again and again, he told stories about his trip to India and how he believes
  technology will uplift your country.
  He talked about a woman in a rural area who used the net to find health
  information.  And he talked about a young man who used the money from a micro-loan to
  start a business creating web pages.
  He believes, as your Prime Minister believes, that the true power of the technology
  revolution that is sweeping the world lies not in its power to create unimaginable wealth in
  the hands of a privileged few.  No.  The true power of the Information Age lies in its
  power to uplift our people; to educate our children; to bring better health care to all
  people; to repair the fabric of communities torn apart by poverty and despair.  That is the
  true power of the new economy.
  I know our leaders share this vision. Together we must work to make it a reality in
  India and in the United States.  Together we can make this a reality.  And I believe we are
  off to a great start.
  Thank you.
                        - -  FCC - -