Copps: Merger Discussions Aren’t at Impasse
Comr. Copps said Fri. negotiations should continue on the AT&T-BellSouth merger with or without participation by Comr. McDowell, who’s deciding whether he can vote on the merger. “I have never said that the merger discussions were at an impasse,” Copps said as he left a Practising Law Institute event.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
McDowell’s decision was imminent. The commissioner spent many hours last week talking with Senate and House Democrats and Republicans about whether he should participate in the merger discussions, sources said.
The McDowell matter has been a distraction since FCC Gen. Counsel Samuel Feder authorized McDowell to participate, Copps said. “The events of the last week have kind of made a mess of things, kind of short-circuited the discussions,” he said: “It’s a little bit difficult to engage in discussions if you don’t know who is part of the discussions… You're just going to be in a situation where you're into this discussion and all of a sudden the terms change because the players change.”
Copps voiced disappointment that merger talks didn’t lead to an agreement between the 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans on the FCC who have been involved. “I'm as disenchanted with the process of where we are right now as many others are,” he said: “We have participated in what I thought was a productive dialog… I think everyone understood that this merger was a steep hill for Mike Copps to climb on the basis [of] where I've been… But you deal with the world that you live in rather than the world that you would maybe like to live in.” He had no comment on whether McDowell should vote or not, he said: “That’s an important personal decision for him to make, and I would not presume to advise him.”
In his PLI remarks, Copps said the FCC should do a better job of serving as a “clearinghouse” for ideas and proposals to improve safety communications. “Why should every jurisdiction and first responder and health care facility have to start from scratch in devising a plan when others have tried many different solutions, some of which worked, some of which didn’t work?” he said: “If folks could contact an FCC that had this record, think how they could profit from the experience of others. Think of the effort, the time, maybe even the lives, that could be saved.”
Copps criticized the Administration for failing to do enough to promote broadband service. “The President set out the goal of universal broadband access by 2007,” he said. “We didn’t make it… as a country we had no strategy to realize that objective.” The U.S. scores badly in the ITU digital opportunity index, a rank of progress in the transition to a digital world, he said: “Your country and mine ranked 21st, right after -- some of you know what’s coming -- Estonia, and in a dead heat with Slovenia. That’s 20 rungs too low.”