[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2100]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



       COMMEMORATING THE 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1996 TELECOM ACT

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, recently we celebrated the fifth anniversary 
of the passage of the 1996 Telecom Act. This legislation--a 
comprehensive overhaul of our nation's laws governing communications--
was the product of approximately ten years of hard work by many people. 
The intent of Congress in passing the Act was to spur competition, 
promote innovation, and provide new services at lower prices to 
consumers.
  I hoped at the time that we passed the Act that it would have a 
tremendous impact on the economy, and my hopes were realized. Hundreds 
of thousands of new jobs were created in the communications sector in 
the first four years after passage of the Act, and this sector has been 
a major contributor to the nation's real economic growth since the 
Act's passage.
  The blueprint of the 1996 Act provided industry and the markets the 
necessary certainty to foster and encourage investment in the 
telecommunications sector. This investment has occurred despite 
significant delays in the Act's implementation on the part of the FCC, 
and more disturbingly, delays related to the litigation of the Act in 
the courts. I am encouraged by the birth and growth of the competitive 
local telecommunications industry. Furthermore, I am pleased that two 
of the regional Bell companies satisfied the checklist required by 
section 271 of the Act in several states, thus indicating that these 
states are fully open to local competition. By opening these particular 
markets fully to local competition, these Bell companies are now able 
to offer long distance service in these states.
  While I am pleased with these positive developments since the passage 
of the '96 Act, I believe it is time to review the '96 Act to determine 
whether it needs to be modified to fully achieve its purpose. While 
competition in many sectors of the telecommunications industry has 
undoubtedly increased, I believe that the Congress should consider how 
to create additional incentives for increased competition in those 
sectors of the telecommunications industry which remain dominated by a 
small number of competitors.
  While we have seen the new competitive companies emerging in the 
marketplace with a particular focus on business clients, perhaps there 
are measures which would make it more attractive to these new companies 
to aggressively pursue the market for local service to consumers' 
homes. Although a few states are now fully open to local competition 
pursuant to the '96 Act's conditions, we need to do more to make it 
attractive for additional markets to be opened, especially rural 
markets. Additional inducements may be necessary to speed the process 
of opening more and more states for local competition, as it appears 
the promise of allowing the incumbent local carriers to enter the long 
distance service market may not be a sufficient motivating factor in 
many states.
  I am also concerned, however, that there are significant deficiencies 
in the enforcement of the '96 Act. While there were encouraging 
developments in the telecommunications industry resulting from the 
passage of the Act, I have serious concerns about the health of the new 
competitive local telecommunications industry and a perception that 
true competition for incumbent local carriers has not been achieved due 
to such enforcement failures. For this reason, I believe that the 107th 
Congress should look closely at these enforcement issues, with a view 
towards possible tweaks that may be necessary to ensure full 
implementation of the Act as it was originally envisioned.
  I was a strong supporter and key sponsor of the '96 Telecom Act, and 
I believe that its principles remain relevant and solid. However, a bit 
of fine-tuning may be in order as we learn from our experiences under 
the first five years of the Act and look forward to a 
telecommunications sector which thrives under additional competition, 
innovation, and consumer choice in the years to come.

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