[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 26, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H2316]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    FCC SHOULD CORRECT BAD DECISION

  (Mr. WHITFIELD asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WHITFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I would like to comment briefly on the 
flawed regulatory decision recently announced by the Federal 
Communications Commission. The FCC's approach can be deemed as borrowed 
from what the railroad industry refers to as trackage rights; that is, 
using another company's property.
  Under the FCC rules, competitors are able to pay a bare minimum to 
use the incumbent phone company's networks. The prices are set using a 
complicated formula devised by the FCC and administered by State 
commissions. It is Federal price controls at their worst.
  This approach has two negative effects. First, it discourages 
investment in the U.S. network by incumbent phone companies. Why would 
you invest if someone else is going to be able to use your property? 
Second, by deliberately underpricing network access, the FCC has 
discouraged investment in other networks by other firms. It hurts 
facilities-based competitors who cannot hope to match the FCC-mandated 
artificially low rates. Even Wall Street has expressed their dismay at 
this decision.
  Mr. Speaker, this country should be encouraging investment, not 
discouraging it. We should be creating jobs, not discouraging it. I 
hope that the FCC will correct this bad decision as soon as possible.

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