Congress Urged to Close Gap On ""Digital Divide""
Millions of Americans are being denied access to advanced telecommunications services, including high-speed Internet access, because of outdated regulations, said Solomon D. Trujillo, Chairman, President and CEO of U.S. WEST. Trujillo on September 9 urged congressional leaders to take action to remedy this situation, which is contrary to what Congress intended when it passed the 1996 Telecommunications Act. ""We run the risk of creating a nation of information 'haves' and 'have-nots,' with millions of Americans left on the wrong side of the 'Digital Divide,'"" Trujillo said, at the Senate's 'CEO Summit' on rural telecommunications. ""The current regulatory climate has encouraged companies to make rational decisions that drive investment to bigger cities and large-business customers. This is exactly the opposite of what Congress intended in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. ""U.S. WEST is a leader in deploying high-speed Internet services. We have 10 percent of the U.S. population yet 40 percent of the nation's DSL subscribers,"" he said. ""But if outdated regulatory barriers were removed, we could do more and would do more."" Trujillo told Senators that certain federal regulations are having the unintended effect of denying Americans access to advanced telecommunications services and widening the Digital Divide. He cited long-distance restrictions and that the nation's Universal Service program has yet to be reformed even though Congress set the deadline for more than two years ago. One of the regulations he said is driving investment away from sparsely populated areas is the restriction against carrying messages across artificial long-distance boundaries (Local Access Transport Areas or LATAs) that were created in 1984. Today, that regulatory prohibition is being extended arbitrarily to data traffic, despite the fact that the Internet was barely on the radar screen when LATAs were established. As a result, these LATA lines are dividing cities and neighborhoods and make the extension of broadband data networks to some areas extremely expensive. ""Current LATA restrictions prevent U.S. WEST from building and operating data networks in a rational, economic manner,"" he said. ""Without these restrictions, we could serve millions more Americans who don't yet have high-speed Internet access. We could deploy ATM switches more economically, provide service to more areas, and reduce costs charged to customers. We could build an in-region backbone network to increase access to vital Internet on-ramps for under-served areas. And we could provide much needed redundancy to create competition and guard against network outages like what occurred recently in Chicago,"" said Trujillo. Trujillo said U.S. WEST is aggressively moving forward to demonstrate to regulators that it has met the requirements established by Congress that would let it provide long-distance service in all its states, based upon a region-wide approach which reflects the unique characteristics of its service area. Trujillo said that swift approval by the FCC of regional Bell companies' petitions to overcome these 15-year old restrictions and provide long-distance service is one of the keys to breaking the logjam on investment in rural areas. On the issue of Universal Service, Trujillo said the failure to implement a viable program by Congress' May 1997 deadline only adds to the problem, and is jeopardizing affordable phone rates for many rural Americans. U.S. WEST supports the creation of a new Universal Service program funded in large part by the reduction of access fees paid by long-distance companies. The company has suggested that funds in the program be accessible to all competitors that build facilities, in order to spur competition and better serve customers in rural areas. Trujillo added that he wants to ensure that competitive local exchange carriers serve all customers, including residential consumers, not just business customers. About U.S. West U.S. WEST has more than three million rural access lines and nearly 500 rural exchanges. It has proportionally more high-cost customers than any regional Bell company. The total average loop investment necessary to reach U.S. WEST customers is higher than all the other Bell companies. U.S. WEST (NYSE: USW) provides a full range of telecommunications services - including wireline, wireless PCS, data networking, directory and information services - to more than 25 million customers nationally and in 14 Western and Midwestern states. More information about U.S. WEST can be found on the Internet at http://www.uswest.com.