The central tenet of the Telecom Act is that local phone competition is desirable and possible. It would allow the incumbents to provide interLATA data services without first opening up their local telephone markets up to competition. Enacting this bill will make it far more difficult to persuade the incumbents to relinquish the monopoly that they continue to hold over local telephone service in virtually every state. Further, the proposed legislation would retard the development of vigorous competition in the broadband Internet services market. As facilities-based competition has failed to materialize, network access is now widely regarded as the only real means of allowing competition to take root.
Consumers increasingly rely on fast, reliable Internet connections to carry out everyday activities.
Consumers are best served when they have a choice of high-speed Internet service providers, as competition works to generate innovative, quality services and better prices. This bill would repeal this critical provision of the Telecom Act, and allow the incumbent local phone companies to deny competitors the access that they need to the existing phone network, thereby eliminating an essential ingredient of competition. This bill rewards them for refusing to obey the law by removing the obligation to provide access to the network. If Congress reopens the Telecom Act, consumers believe it should be to remove ongoing monopolistic practices that thwart competition and deny consumers greater choice and lower prices for telephone and cable services. Cable rates are up nearly three times the rate of inflation since the Act became law and no sign of meaningful competition to cable is in sight.