[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 1786-1787]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         WE NEED TELECOM REFORM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 8, 2005

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on 
the anniversary of one of the hardest fought legislative battles of the 
last decade and to discuss the need for improving it this year.
  It was 9 years ago this week that Congress last passed comprehensive 
telecom reform. The biggest issues then were how best to provide 
competition in both local and long distance telephone service and to 
ensure that everyone, including those in rural areas, has access to 
phone service.
  In the last 9 years we have seen advancements in communication 
technology that could not have been envisioned. Near universal access 
to the Internet, development and deployment of broadband technology, 
more wireless phones in service than wireline accounts, e-mail on the 
go and cable, phone, and satellite companies all vying to deliver an 
entire suite of video and communications services to a growing 
marketplace. New technologies and industries unfettered by the 
constraints of old rules have competed vigorously for consumers' 
business, transforming forever the way business and consumers get 
information and communicate with one another.
  Unfortunately, our telecom laws have not kept pace with growing 
demand for choice and competition in the marketplace. Some industries 
continue to operate under arcane regulations that stifle ingenuity, 
hinder job creation, and bottle up needed economic investment.

[[Page 1787]]

These same regulations also place the burden of meeting our shared 
national priorities of universal phone service and 911 emergency 
services squarely on the shoulders of a single industry--the local 
phone companies.
  Our Nation's telecom laws are due for some badly needed, free-market 
reforms, changes that will build upon the successes of the last 9 years 
in terms of innovation and product delivery while also addressing the 
issues of social responsibility and competition. Unlike what we did in 
1996, these new telecom laws must do more to anticipate advancements 
and create a mechanism where the playing field is level for every 
company that wishes to compete.
  Specifically, we face some daunting challenges. The United States--
despite being the country that invented the Internet--ranks 13th in the 
world in broadband deployment, there are millions of jobs and billions 
of dollars in potential investment waiting to be unleashed by a telecom 
marketplace free of excessive regulations and Universal Service and 911 
access must, again, be the responsibility of all the companies in the 
telecom marketplace.
  In much the same way healthy, abundant competition for mobile phone 
service has enabled nearly every community in the United States to have 
access to a wireless phone signal, so too can vigorous competition 
deliver on President Bush's commitment of universal broadband service. 
A study by the New Millennium Research Council shows that 1.2 million 
jobs can be created and over $50 billion in new investment in broadband 
technologies can be brought about by ubiquitous broadband deployment.
  In the past, we have made it incumbent upon local phone companies to 
ensure that basic phone service and 911 emergency needs were met. These 
services are important to our rural and local safety communities and 
must be protected. Now, however, it is unfair to ask only a handful of 
companies to bear the burden of ensuring the success of the Universal 
Service Fund and it is dangerous to allow some companies offering phone 
services to opt out of providing 911 services.
  In closing, Mr. Speaker, we have a responsibility this year to 
revisit our Nation's outdated and arcane telecom laws. A responsibility 
to our constituents to ensure that telecommunications competition 
provides choices. A responsibility to our economy to institute a 
telecom policy that spurs job creation and investment. A responsibility 
to our communities that their broadband and 911 safety needs will be 
met. And, finally, a responsibility to future telecom advancements that 
we will allow them to flourish and compete so that the United States 
is, once again, the global telecommunications leader.

                          ____________________