Making the FCC Your Business—continued

Participatory Government

Cannon says it all comes down to "participatory government," with ISP owners either attending Washington proceedings or sending a letter to the regulatory authorities. By law—specifically, the Administrative Procedure Act—the FCC is held accountable to answer every query it receives. That is, "in a timely fashion and in a way that logically explains our position," Cannon said.

Cannon was part of several panel presentations at ISPCON a few months ago. He said he was sitting at a table with 13 other government officials from the FCC, Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, when an ISP owner stood up and shouted that the government needs to work with ISPs to keep them in business, because no one else would listen to ISPs concerns.

"There is a point where you lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink," Cannon said. "What ISPs need to do is come to the meetings. All the proceedings are completely open, notice of them is spread across the Internet. There are trade associations that get the word out. One of the biggest problems we have is that ISPs don't show up. We don't hear enough from ISPs."

Bureaucratic marketing
The question isn't how can your ISP afford to make a trip to Washington, D.C. every time a proceeding is going to be held—it's how can your ISP afford not to attend?

Look at it this way, how much money is budgeted for your ISPs marketing program this quarter? For $2,000, nearly anyone can get a round trip airline ticket plus overnight lodging and still have enough cash left over to buy souvenirs for the kiddies and cocktails on the return flight back home. For most ISP operations, two-grand is a drop in the bucket. But attending these meetings, making sure that ISPs concerns are being heard—well, that could be priceless. What your ISP does when it goes to Washington is a quintessential marketing endeavor.

The effort might seem like small potatoes when compared to telecom money-mountains earmarked for lawyers and lobbyists. But Cannon said the presence of a single ISP owner at an FCC proceeding is given as much deference as any big-city RBOC attorney.

"It's not that the Bells have the money to sway the FCC's decisions, but they have the money to fund sending people to us to talk with us about issues that affect the industry," Cannon said. "That's what the ISP industry needs to do. We hold a hearing and the Bells people are present to give their side, and then we look to the other side for comment and there's no one there."

Case in point
A recent example of a small ISPs power to shape federal policy is Steven Heins, director of marketing at Oshkosh, WI-based NorthNet. During the America Online/Time Warner merger talks, Time Warner officials released a term sheet delineating the way ISPs could share its network in order to prove its "open" to competition.

The draconian conditions of the term sheet were enough to keep every local and small regional ISP out of the cable business. But because the conditions of the deal were under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), regulators were unaware of the cable company's unfair demands.

Heins cried foul, creating a media firestorm for AOL TW officials—and more important—waking up regulators, alerting them that the terms were pure hyperbola. By disclosing Time Warner's cable carriage terms and filing a petition with the FCC—one man, one ISP—forced officials to apply open access conditions as part and parcel of the AOL-TW merger.

One-up
Cannon said Heins actions are responsible for changing the outcome of the merger review and establishing a national policy of open access to cable networks. That's right folks, one small ISP from Wisconsin is responsible for altering the course of a monarch—AOL Time Warner.

"If you read the AOL Time Warner order you will find NorthNet throughout it all," Cannon said. "It's not uncommon for us to think we understand what's going on out in the industry. But without anyone coming to us and saying, 'yes, this is what's happening, I need you to respond this way' we can't do that.

"When we make a decision, when we make an order, we have to do it on the input of the industry," Cannon continued. "And if no one has come to our meetings and given us input, there's nothing we can do. ISPs have tremendous power in the regulatory process, they just aren't exercising it."

Cannonade
The Internet is a powerful tool to bring information and entertainment to everyone around the world. ISPs are critical piece of said process, because they are generally the ones to bring market innovations to bear.

Just look at the effect ISPs had on DSL access. The RBOCs certainly did not want to deploy DSL services and cut into its profitable T-1 sales. Independent ISPs helped bring the technology to the forefront of high-speed business communications—bringing RBOCs into the DSL arena kicking and screaming.

What the future holds for ISPs tomorrow, is largely dependent on the actions—or collective inaction—of ISPs today. It doesn't matter if its the FCC, FTC, or Congress—it's in the best interests for all ISPs to get personally involved in the rulemaking process. This is the point that Cannon has been trying to make for years—and one he hopes ISPs will exercise before they reach the breaking point.

— End

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Related articles:
	[Jan. 12, 2001]	FCC Gives AOL Time Warner A-OK
	[Oct. 2, 2000]	Did Time Warner Lie?