BROWNBACK, BURNS SEE SPECTRUM REFORM BILLS DYING THIS CONGRESS

Although Brownback didn’t refer to specific bills, he said proposed legislative remedies to controversial auction were nothing more than attempts to “move the FCC along” one way or another: “That’s why I want to talk to [FCC] Chairman Powell… If [the FCC] delays it now, when would we get the spectrum out there? One year? Ten years?” Brownback said he would meet with Powell within week to address such questions, saying that “my objective is to get that spectrum” into hands of commercial users as soon as possible.

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking Republican Burns (Mont.) said he was working with other members to put together spectrum reform bill. He urged industry to work with Congress to draft meaningful legislation while saying it stood no chance of making it to President’s desk in 107th Congress: “Will we pass it this year? Definitely not, but we have to start the debate.”

Burns didn’t disclose which members he was working with to develop legislation and provided few specifics on what it would attempt to accomplish. He said spectrum reform must address not only how govt. managed spectrum, but also who managed this resource. Burns reiterated his concern that U.S. was falling behind other nations in 3rd-generation wireless network deployment and that development of national spectrum policy was one of most pressing issues facing Congress. He emphasized that “military and public safety spectrum must be taken care of” in development of policy.

Meanwhile, SBC Chmn. Edward Whitacre repeated common theme of incumbent Bell companies and told U.S. Chamber of Commerce-sponsored conference that full-fledged broadband adoption wouldn’t occur in this country until telcos were treated same as less-regulated rival cable providers. Broadband services will become more attractive to consumers and small businesses only when there’s “basic fairness in the way broadband is regulated” so competition can grow, he said. Whitacre said there was no incentive for SBC and other incumbent LECs to build out broadband facilities when competitors could “lease parts of our network [for low prices], put their name on it and undercut the market.” He said such competitors “target our best customers at these contrived rates” and cable didn’t face that kind of regulation. As result, he asked: “Where is the incentive for us to build our networks, where is the incentive to maintain networks? Something has to give. The FCC should let incumbents earn a return. We can’t now, and the threat to the nation’s networks is clear.”

ALTS Pres. John Windhausen, who was in audience, asked Whitacre whether SBC had taken into consideration unfair advantage incumbents had over CLECs in areas such as rights- of-way regulation and whether that lack of parity also should be fixed. Windhausen also said CLECs had been investing in facilities but were stymied by lack of parity with ILECs. “I see you haven’t changed your tone, the same old stuff,” Whitacre said to Windhausen. Whitacre repeated his view that unless cable’s advantage were leveled, it wouldn’t matter because “they [cable] will have it all.” He said ILECs also faced rights-of-way problems in some areas and, besides, it was “just nuts” for company “to build a network and turn around and resell it to a competitor” that would offer service at steep discount. “That is the problem. That is what’s holding up the development of broadband,” he said.

In response to complaint by American ISP Assn. Pres. Sue Ashdown about lack of adequate access to DSL facilities, Whitacre responded that at least there was access to DSL, unlike closed cable systems. He said SBC offered access to outside ISPs at same price it offered its own ISP.

In later presentation, AT&T Gen. Counsel James Cicconi urged against changing regulations for incumbent LECs, as sought by Whitacre. Policymakers should “resist those voices who want the government to pick winners and losers by changing the rules after tens of billions have been invested,” he said. “Companies who are trying to compete against entrenched monopolies have enough problems without the government putting its thumb on the scale against them,” Cicconi said.

In lunch speech, FCC Chmn. Powell said agency hoped to complete several key broadband proceedings by year’s end -- “we're in an urgent mode” -- but “the wheels of change are incredibly complicated” so completion of those items could take longer. Powell said agency shouldn’t be “cocky” and try to move too quickly because FCC had been reversed too many times by U.S. Appeals Court, D.C. When SBC Senior Vp Priscilla Hill-Ardoin asked whether Powell had view on whether broadband issue was one of supply or demand, Powell said “it frustrates me” that issue often was portrayed in such a “binary” way. There’s “interconnected relationship” between supply and demand, he said, and one can’t happen without other.

In panel discussion on content protection, Rep. Goodlatte (R-Va.), co-chmn. of Congressional Internet Caucus, said Americans never would get significant amounts of content over Internet until rampant piracy was stopped. “Only when the war against piracy is effectively waged and won will businesses and consumers move in significant numbers to the online marketplace,” he said, adding that billions of unauthorized downloads were occurring each month. At same time, he said, Congress shouldn’t pick technological standard to stop piracy, but instead leaving it to industries. He said fair use by consumers should be preserved. News Corp. Vp-Public Affairs Rick Lane touted recent agreement on DTV (CD April 26 p2) as breakthrough and expressed hope that it would solve many problems cited as obstacles because technology would prevent people from uploading content, thus preventing it from being placed on Internet indiscriminately. Lane said narrowly tailored legislation would be required to make sure that CE devices didn’t ignore broadcast flag.