Can Convergence Thrive Under Old Laws?

WASHINGTON -- New and near-future technologies that combine voice, data, and video services could prompt rewriting the 1996 Telecommunications Act--or scrapping it altogether.

Several Congressional representatives made the observation during a "show-and-tell" hearing on voice-and-data convergence technologies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. Wednesday's hearing was one in a series as the subcommittee considers ways to revise the far-reaching 1996 Telecommunications Act, says Michigan Republican Fred Upton, who chairs the subcommittee.

Upton questioned what he called "stovepipe" regulation focused only on telecommunications providers. For example, cable and Internet providers are starting to provide voice over IP service, competing with incumbent telephone carriers that inherited their networks after the early '80s breakup of AT&T. He predicted Congress will begin rewriting the '96 Telecom Act next year.

Competitors Emerge

New technologies are blurring the lines between telecommunications services, which are traditionally regulated, and unregulated Internet services, Upton said.

Representative Christopher Cox (R-California) went a step further and questioned whether Federal Communications Commission regulations are needed at all. Cox didn't advocate abolishing the FCC, but cited a 1997 book by lawyer Peter Huber that does suggest the agency is no longer needed.

Wireless, telecom, satellite, and Internet companies are starting to compete with each other, and a rewrite of the '96 Act may not be necessary, Cox said.

"This seems to be the competition we've all sought for a long time, so perhaps we should declare victory," he said. "Possibly what we'll learn today is that retirement (of the law) is a better option."

But other lawmakers seemed to back away from abandoning telecommunications regulations. Parts of the Telecom Act and other legislation paved the way for the current landscape, which encourages convergence, said Representative Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts). For example, the '96 Telecom Act preempts laws in 26 states that prohibit competitors such as utilities and cable companies from offering telecommunications services, he said.

"The point is that regardless of how ingenious a new, whiz-bang device might be, in our telecommunications marketplace its creators need governmental policies which allow it to reach the market--otherwise it will remain merely a gleam in the eye of an engineer in a lab," Markey said. "Moreover, the marketplace needs sufficient competition to ensure that participants continue to innovate, that innovators have a sufficient number of companies to whom they can sell their products and services, and that consumers see higher quality offerings and lower prices."

New Services Touted

Six companies, including Time Warner Cable and Qualcomm, showed new and upcoming technology that blurs the early definitions.

Current Communications Group discussed its rollout of broadband over power lines service. Ham radio operators have raised concerns about potential interference from BPL, but Jay Birnbaum, vice president and general counsel at Current Communications, touted BPL as a potential broadband option for people living in rural areas. Electricity utilities can also use BPL equipment to test their lines and find outages, he said.

Sprint demonstrated TV signals sent over video-enabled cell phones. The company's $10-monthly service, in partnership with Idetic's MobiTV service, allows subscribers to access 18 channels, said John Burris, director of data product marketing for Sprint. Customers with Sprint phones can also get audio of Major League Baseball games, he said.

Verizon Communications demonstrated a prototype video phone running the company's Iobi software platform designed for devices that converge data, voice, and video. Adriana Rizzo, the company's executive director of eServices, showed how phone users could drag and drop names from an address book on the device into a videoconferencing queue. The leader of a video conference can mute a participant or drop them from the call altogether "if they're really annoying," Rizzo said.

Verizon plans to release the video phone by late in the year, although it doesn't yet have a firm price for the phone, she said.

Laws Can't Keep Up?

Because of the new technologies that blur the lines between telecommunications and Internet services, a new telecom law would likely be outdated as soon as it goes into effect, said Representative Albert Wynn, a Maryland Democrat.

"We're going to have to scramble to keep up," he said.

New telecommunications legislation shouldn't aim to favor some technologies or companies over others, added Representative Charles Bass, a New Hampshire Republican. He called Wednesday's hearing the "opening act in a very long and complicated play."

"The underlying and most important issue is not who wins and who loses," Bass added. "The winners must be the consumers . . . the winners must be the U.S. economy."