Press Release: CISPA Responds

California's ISP association responds to the passage of the Tauzin-Dingell bill in the House.

[Response to Tauzin-Dingell: Apocalypse or What? from March 1, 2002.]

[March 1, 2002]

Dear Editors:

The California Internet Service Providers Association (CISPA) today criticized passage of the "Tauzin-Dingell" bill by the U.S. House of Representatives and said it will put hundreds of Internet service providers and competitive phone companies out of business if the U.S. Senate also passes the bill. CISPA said it would work to defeat the legislation in the U.S. Senate.

"The Bells' army of lobbyists have won the first battle, but the war for consumer rights to a competitive choice of broadband is far from over," said Mike Jackman, executive director of CISPA. "If the Bells succeed in locking out competitors with this special-interest bill, California's consumers will no longer be able to get DSL from their favorite Internet service provider. Without competition, DSL customers will be faced with higher prices, less choice, and a lower quality of service."

If passed by the Senate, the legislation would allow the Bell telephone companies to expand their existing local phone monopolies into the market for high-speed Internet services such as Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL). CISPA also said that thousands of California consumers and businesses could lose high-speed Internet service if the legislation becomes law.

Jackman said the bill eliminates the ability of state public utility commissions to enforce existing state telecommunications law and said: "Circumventing the California PUC by creating and pushing this bill in Washington, D.C. shows SBC's disdain for local decision-making."

The1996 Telecommunications Act, designed to foster competition, opened the networks of Pacific Bell and its regional monopoly counterparts to other companies, thus ensuring that the dominant local phone exchanges could not use their inherited monopoly to lock out competitors. The Tauzin-Dingell bill removes this requirement, while allowing the Bells into the long distance data market.

If passed by the Senate, the legislation would effectively end competition for DSL and other high-speed data services, wipe out more than $50 billion in investment and eliminate 70,000 telecommunications and Internet jobs, according to the Association for Local Telecommunications Services. Despite the intentions of the 1996 law, competition for DSL services is already extremely limited, with the local Bell companies carrying more than 90 percent of the residential DSL market nationwide.

"The success of the U.S. economy depends on open competition among many companies," said Jackman. "Every U.S. senator needs to ask the question: 'Do we want to recreate the old Bell monopoly and hinder the growth of affordable, high-speed Internet access.' "

Regards,

Mike Jackman
Executive Director
California Internet Service Providers Association (CISPA)