roundtable: Telecom Update

roundtable: Telecom Update

Telecom Update

W. Curtiss Priest (BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu)
Tue, 12 Dec 95 09:59:38 EST 

Message-Id: <9512121458.AA20786@a.cni.org>
Date:  Tue, 12 Dec 95 09:59:38 EST
From: "W. Curtiss Priest" <BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu>
To: Telecommunications Policy Roundtable <ROUNDTABLE@CNI.ORG>
Subject: Telecom Update


Posted by:
Curtiss Priest
<BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu>

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Return-Path: <bell@BELL.COM>
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 95 17:49:02 EST
From: "ACC(BELL.COM)-Listserver" <special@bell.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <bell@bell.com>
Subject: Telecom Update


The following update is from the Washington Telecom Newswire.  Information
regarding the Washington Telecom Newswire can be found at http://wtn.com/wtn.


WASHINGTON TELECOM NEWSWIRE ...
________________________________________________________________

December 11, 1995                               12:55 p.m. ET

PRICING FLEXIBILITY RETURNS TO TELECOM CONFERENCE AGENDA

Pricing flexibility for local carriers has returned on the telecom
conference committee agenda, said Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), a
conferee.

Speaking at a conference in Washington today, Boucher said  when
conferees convene at 2 p.m. tomorrow, the pricing flexibility
issue, which was taken out of the bill by conferees last week, will
be on the agenda.

His said his assumption is that the language will be restored to
the bill.  "I think the chances are good it will be back in,"
Boucher said at the Stevens Institute on Technology conference.

Both House and Senate bills would require pricing flexibility, but
the language was deleted at the staff level because the Senate
version was difficult to integrate with that of the House, Boucher
said.  Senate language would give state regulators the ability to
review profitability, a significant step back toward rate-or-return
regulation, he said.

Boucher said he didn't think the issue was important enough for the
Bell companies to try to kill the measure, but GTE may object to a
bill without the flexibility language.

Boucher said the final bill most likely will not include an
increased role for the Department of Justice (DoJ) in determining
when there is sufficient competition to allow the Bell companies
into long distance.

President Clinton will be satisfied with the media concentration
and cable regulation provisions that emerge from the conference,
and therefore, will not be inclined to veto the measure simply
because of the DoJ role, Boucher said.

The issue of Bell entry into long distance also is scheduled to be
on the agenda tomorrow, Boucher said.  The chances of staff
agreement on Bell entry language before the conferee meeting are
50-50, he said, adding that the discussion on that issue could be
contentious.

"Playing it before the full conference is a hazardous undertaking,"
he cautioned.  "Many members do not have a history of working with
telco issues.  Who knows what the result might be."

The final media concentration language could say that the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) should assess any proposed media
mergers in light of how they would effect the "diversity of voices"
in a market, Boucher said.  He said the final language may
stipulate a minimum number of media owners in a given market.

Boucher acknowledged the deadline pressure that conferees are
facing.  If the debate continues into 1996, he said, it becomes
easier to delay the bill and the risk is that it will become bogged
down in election politics.

He predicted that conferees will finish their work before the
holiday break.  "I think the prospects are very good that in the
next week of two we can complete the process," Boucher said.


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