Analysis Reveals State Commissions May Have Jurisdiction Over
Broadband Cable
San Francisco, CA, July 20, 1999 - In a presentation at the
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) summer
conference later today, MCI WorldCom Chief Policy Counsel Jonathan
Sallet will call upon state public utility commissions to look hard at
the issue of open cable network access. He will discuss the manner in
which states may exercise authority to prevent the creation of digital
cable monopolies pursuant to applicable state laws.
Section 706 of the Act clearly recognizes the states' role in
ensuring deployment of "advanced telecommunications capability to
all Americans." Advanced services like high-speed Internet access
are defined without regard to transmission facilities. Congress plainly
foresaw that cable companies may choose to provide telecommunications
services. Thus, states ought to consider their authority to address
broadband access to last-mile facilities.
In June, the City of Portland mandated competitive access to cable
connections as part of the AT&T-TCI cable franchise transfer which
a federal district court recently upheld. Similarly, Broward County,
Fla., voted to force local cable companies to open up their lines to
Internet companies on July 13. The issue is ongoing in many cities
including San Francisco where a vote on open access will take place on
July 26, followed by Miami-Dade County on July 27.
But, said Sallet, "To date, there has been little attention
paid to the opportunities that state public utility commissions can
employ to ensure that Internet access remains open." Sallet also
noted that MCI WorldCom has explained that it will provide access to
its two-way wireless cable network.
Cable modems provide high-speed, two-way telecommunications for
Internet services. Many state telecommunications laws indicate that
provision of two-way communications constitutes a
"telecommunications service." Prior state regulatory activity
in New York, Florida and California has already indicated that two-way
cable service can be regulated as a telecommunications service and
Illinois has begun to lay a framework in the same direction.
Additionally, some states have jurisdiction over telecom-cable
mergers. In most states, the authority to license companies to provide
telecommunications gives states the right to review its transfer. And
if broadband cable is a medium for telecommunications, the transfer of
these systems would be covered.
"The impact of closed cable access on consumers is
serious," Sallet continues. "Cable company monopolies will
limit choice, price, service and innovation. History shows us that
monopolies are bad for consumers."
MCI WorldCom is a global leader in communications services with 1998
revenues of more than $30 billion and established operations in over 65
countries encompassing the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific
regions. MCI WorldCom is a premier provider of facilities-based and
fully integrated local, long distance, international and Internet
services. MCI WorldCom's global networks, including its
state-of-the-art pan-European network and transoceanic cable systems,
provide end-to-end high-capacity connectivity to more than 40,000
buildings worldwide. MCI WorldCom is traded on NASDAQ under WCOM. For
more information on MCI WorldCom, visit the World Wide Web at
http://www.wcom.com.
