Wall Street Journal, June 29, 2005
By Amy Schatz

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin plans to act as quickly as possible to change the agency's rules so phone companies won't be required to share their Internet lines with rivals.

"We'll need to move quickly to establish regulatory parity between telephone companies and cable companies that are providing a broadband service," Mr. Martin said in an interview yesterday, a day after the Supreme Court upheld the FCC's decision to allow cable companies exclusive access to their broadband Internet lines. Telephone companies are currently required to share their digital-subscriber lines, or DSL, for the Internet with rivals but want similar exclusivity.

Hours after the decision, Mr. Martin directed FCC lawyers to examine how the agency can best move forward to change rules for phone companies, too. The agency has a few options available, although it is unclear when Mr. Martin might have the political consensus needed to change those rules.

The five-member FCC has been down a commissioner since former Chairman Michael Powell left in March and Mr. Martin assumed the top slot. The only other Republican commissioner at present, Kathleen Abernathy, is expected to leave as soon as the White House can find a successor, and several of her top aides already have left the FCC. Filling the two Republicans' seats has proven difficult for the White House, however, as two top nominees dropped out for personal reasons during the vetting process.

The FCC's two Democrats, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, have good relations with Mr. Martin, but it is unclear if they would be willing to sign on to the Bush administration's high-speed Internet strategy, which essentially provides for a cable and phone duopoly in local markets. Mr. Martin, a Republican, hasn't yet tested his ability to sway his Democratic colleagues to his side on any controversial matters since taking over as chairman.

The two Democrats previously have echoed concerns raised by consumer groups that allowing cable and phone companies exclusive access over their broadband Internet networks will limit competition.

Cable and phone companies argue they have little incentive to spend billions of dollars to upgrade local networks if they will have to provide rivals access to use those lines at regulated rates. The Bush administration is sympathetic to those arguments and has become increasingly concerned that the U.S. is falling behind other nations in broadband deployment. Mr. Martin says encouraging the spread of broadband Internet is his top priority.

"I think that it is important that consumers have access to all different kinds of information that's available on the Internet, but I think that companies that are investing in providing high-speed lines to consumers want to make sure they can provide those services...and forcing them to sell those lines at a discount would discourage them from investing in the upgrades necessary to provide those services," Mr. Martin said. "I think the benefits outweigh some of the concerns raised."

This article is copyrighted material, the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.