[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 117 (Wednesday, July 19, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1463-E1464]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                COMPREHENSIVE TELECOMMUNICATIONS REFORM

                                 ______


                            HON. BART GORDON

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 19, 1995
  Mr. GORDON. Mr. Speaker, as we begin debate on comprehensive 
telecommunications reform, this statement offers a unique perspective 
on one aspect of the industry.
           Government Can Continue Services With Pay-Per-Call

  (By Richard J. Gordon, Chairman, Teleservices Industry Association)

       When Abraham Lincoln was President there were no telegraph 
     machines in the White House. To receive reports from his 
     generals on Civil War battlefields, the President had to walk 
     to the building next door. That building housed the federal 
     government's only telegraph equipment, equipment already 
     commonplace to the railroads and a good many private 
     businesses.
       Until Herbert Hoover was President, the Oval Office did not 
     have a telephone. By the time there was one on the 
     President's desk, millions already were in heavy use by 
     businesses and private citizens.
       American businessmen have long been ahead of their 
     governments in accepting, developing and using the latest 
     technology.
       Today, audiotext, already a four-billion-dollar business in 
     the private sector, finally is getting attention in the 
     public sector. Both state and federal government agencies, 
     such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 
     are taking advantage of pay-per-call.
       At the Office of Planning and Building in Sacramento, 
     California, citizens can telephone a 900 number, request 
     information by punching in their fax numbers and receive 
     copies of requested documents in about the time it will take 
     the reader to finish this article.
       Moreover, to provide information on over one million 
     corporations, New York's Department of State operates a 900 
     number that costs a caller $4.00 per call. This 
     ``teleservice'' keeps seven people busy answering some 500 
     calls per day. What once cost the State $250,000 yearly to 
     answer telephone inquiries, now is a faster service whose 
     users bear the costs.

[[Page E 1464]]

       To appreciate the value of teleservices, one only has to 
     visit his local Department of Motor Vehicles, Post Office or 
     wait in line or on ``hold for the next available customer 
     service representative.'' To all for whom time is money, pay-
     per-call to access government is an attractive and economical 
     option.
       It is not a new idea that those most benefiting from 
     government services should pay a charge. For nearly forty 
     years, gasoline taxes and license fees have, in whole or in 
     part, financed state and federal highway systems.
       Why do trucks pay higher fees than automobiles? Everyone 
     seems to accept the logic of the answer: they use the 
     highways more and wear them out faster.
       It is difficult to determine why it has taken so long for 
     government to serve its ``customers'' with efficient pay-per-
     call applications.
       Perhaps citizens had become too accustomed to free access, 
     free information and even free publications from their 
     governments.
       Ironically, we have come to accept that banks and other 
     businesses bill for a myriad of services which were once 
     free-of-charge. Customers now accept that service, and more 
     specifically ``fast'' and ``express'' services, have monetary 
     value.
       The Contract with America, passed by the new majority in 
     Congress, cuts the cost of government by reducing services. 
     Deferring costs by requiring users to pay for ``instant'' 
     service may be the only way for some government agencies to 
     justify their continuance.
       Another boost to government lethargy has been the bad rap 
     given the 900 industry through its early and nearly-exclusive 
     use as an adult service.
       Because of the industry's own determined efforts to protect 
     its services from improper and illegal usage, adult services 
     using 900 numbers virtually have disappeared. Most 
     applications that utilize a 900 number now fall under the 
     category of Business-to-Business Teleservices.
       Today, every touch-tone telephone is a miniature market. 
     With access to 800 and 900 numbers, callers can order 
     merchandise, obtain personal bank balances, have their voices 
     heard or their votes tallied, and be talked through 
     astonishingly complete menus for ordering an amazing array of 
     goods and services.
       Once again, the private sector has embraced a new 
     technology, enhanced it with countless unique and practical 
     innovations, significantly improved lives and created 
     profits.
       Now it is past time for government to assess its own timid 
     samplings, to observe the widespread public uses and 
     applications, and to bring to citizens and taxpayers the 
     efficiencies and economies of broader use of pay-per-call 
     services.
     

                          ____________________