DNS - Verizon Officials to Congress: Rewrite Communications Act of 1996

Executives from Verizon (News - Alert) are reportedly pressuring Congress to rewrite the Communications Act of 1996 -- as they see it as no longer relevant in this day and age of Internet-based communications -- and to take away the FCC’s (News - Alert) rulemaking authority with regard to broadband.

They also suggest that Congress establish a new lawmaking agency that is better able to keep up with the technological changes impacting the broadband communications industry -- and have those changes reflected sooner in the laws that regulate it.

Basically Verizon officials are saying that the FCC’s rulemaking hasn’t been able to keep up with the pace of technological change – and they’re pointing to the Telecom Act of 1996 as a prime example.

'It is important for consumers and for companies to believe they can get a quick answer when an issue arises,' Tom Tauke, Verizon's executive vice president for public affairs, policy and communications, said in a speech at the New Democratic Network (NDN), a Washington D.C. think tank. 'Processes that are going to last a long time probably aren't going to fill the bill.'

Verizon officials are suggesting that Congress establish some sort of an “enforcement agency” with an 'ongoing engagement' with technology experts to analyze industry trends as an alternative to the FCC. While some might argue that the FCC already fills that role, Verizon officials are arguing that that it is too encumbered by politics and procedures to be reactive to rapidly changing market conditions.

The proposed “enforcement agency” could set out broadband principles for the Internet industry, then act on individual problems as they come up, instead of trying to create rules to anticipate problems, Tauke said.

Tauke also called for an end of subsidies under the FCC's Universal Service Fund. Instead of the USF being the “go-between” -- collecting money from telecom carriers and then distributing it to poor people who need help paying for phone service -- Congress should give direct vouchers, he said.