FCC rapidly evolving but more changes must be made, chair tells senators

FCC chair Michael Powell testified last week before the U.S. Senate subcommittee on commerce, justice, state and the judiciary. In addressing the commission’s upcoming budget estimates, he reviewed some of the achievements and goals of the FCC. An edited version appears here. The commission must stay abreast of technological advances and be prepared to face the future before the future arrives. To do so, the commission needs funding to improve its use of internal technology and to develop a highly trained workforce to evaluate communications industry trends. Last year when I appeared before you, I discussed the commission’s critical need to upgrade its infrastructure. I also emphasized our efforts to re-evaluate the Agency and develop a business plan to reform its organizational structure. A well-funded infrastructure and an efficient organizational structure are intrinsically linked. The overall ability of the commission to function as an institution is dependent upon the quality of both. When I last testified, we already had made strides toward upgrading information technology and technological resources. Six months after my testimony, I sent you a report outlining a significant internal reorganization of the commission. Broadband Recently, I noted that one of the FCC’s central policymaking focuses is, and should be, the promotion of efficient, widespread deployment of broadband infrastructure. Recognizing the importance of broadband deployment—a topic of conversation that is extensively discussed here on Capitol Hill, as well as at the commission, Wall Street, and Main Street—the commission is taking a concerted, comprehensive approach to bring regulatory clarity to what is, at best, a murky and confusing policy area. To that end, the commission has committed significant resources to consider and initiate several proceedings that pointedly address broadband issues. Of course, our actions in this area will first and foremost be grounded in the Act, taking into account the statutory objectives of competition, universal service, and consumer protection. It is important to emphasize that while we have committed significant resources to initiating or completing various rulemakings, the legal and regulatory issues implicated here have yet to be resolved. But they must be resolved if we collectively intend to facilitate the ubiquitous availability of broadband to all Americans. The commission welcomes the input of all Americans in our deliberative process—especially the opinions of the members of this subcommittee and Congress as a whole—as we proceed in developing a regulatory framework for successful broadband deployment. Competition Policy Competition is a fundamental and guiding statutory principle under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. It is the root from which most of our other policy areas grow. Under my leadership, the Commission has been outspoken in its support for competition, both inter- and intra-modal. More significantly, however, our actions have backed up our words. Positive rules to promote competitive entry are meaningless without a credible enforcement effort to back them up. Therefore, we have made enforcement the cornerstone of our competition policy. As you will recall, last year we called on Congress to increase dramatically the forfeiture amount allowed under the statute. While we eagerly await the fulfillment of this request, we have vigorously enforced our rules that serve to promote competition. In addition, in contemplating our competition policy, we recognized that ensuring that competitors have access to those network elements that are necessary to provide competing telecommunications services is only half the battle. Indeed, the competitive local exchange carrier community told us that to be useful, network elements must be provisioned in a timely manner. In response to provisioning concerns, we launched two Notice of Proposed Rulemakings on performance standards. Through these proceedings, we have embarked on an effort to simplify performance levels and standards to both clarify obligations and to allow for a mechanism for swift enforcement when those levels and standards are compromised. The entire transcript is available here.

FCC rapidly evolving but more changes must be made, chair tells senators

News | 03/12/2002 5:00 am EST

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