Broadband Bill Gains More Support

It was not a landslide victory, but a controversial broadband bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee by a vote of 32-23 on Wednesday.

The sponsors of the bill, called the Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001, say it is the best means to provide market incentives to speed the delivery of broadband Internet services to consumers and businesses nationwide. But opponents say the bill would hurt small competitors in the Digital Subscriber Line market.

The vote followed a daylong debate of an amended version of the bill and consideration of several amendments, most of which were rejected, including one that would have required local telephone service providers to share more than just their copper loops with competitors. That amendment failed on a 27-27 vote.

Sponsored by representatives W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, a Republican from Louisiana, and John Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan, the bill attempts to deregulate broadband services. Opponents say that because it limits line-sharing requirements to copper, it favors incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) and would leave smaller competitors out in the cold.

During the long debate on the line-sharing amendment, which would have required the ILECs to share not only copper lines but also fiber optic lines and remote terminals, supporters said it would have maintained Federal Communications Commission orders already in place. They also said it would have helped salvage the businesses of DSL providers such as Covad Communications that have struggled in the marketplace.

"I fear there will be only one choice for DSL [an ILEC] and the only other choice will be cable modem," said Heather Wilson, a Republican from New Mexico.

Tauzin, the committee chair, however, said the amendment "strikes at the heart of the bill" and would impose requirements on fiber optic lines that would "unravel the deregulatory provisions" of the bill.

Dingell argued that the proposal would leave "Ma Cable"--a reference to AT&T, which now has substantial holdings in cable--totally without competitors in the last mile. If the line-sharing requirements in the bill were expanded to include fiber and remote terminals, ILECs would not enter the broadband market, leaving it open to "a few pygmies," he said. The ILECs have the best chance to compete against AT&T and rapidly increase the deployment of broadband services, Dingell said.

"You've got to get giants in there to compete," he said.

Once this bill is approved by the committee, it goes to the full House for a vote and then must be signed by President Bush to become law. Another bill, which covers the tightening of enforcement of regulations applying to ILECs, would be attached to the Internet Freedom bill and House members would vote on them together, Tauzin said.