Not a bad place to be: right smack in the middle, selling to all sides. There are, however, some footnotes on this score.
Telecom vendors frequently sell products to carriers locked in brutal and ever changing competition with one another, both within and across sectors – to wireline and wireless carriers, to cable providers, big, small, you name it; here, there, and remember: you cannot ignore the ignore the international market. Across the sales force, then, there are distinctions that characterize the individual markets, with the overall picture somewhat uneven, with no market expected to look exactly like the others, nor will they ever be that way.
The fact is that regulation may grow to acquire horribly lumpy characteristics of its own, with some platforms subject to a high degree of regulation, such as the large incumbent telcos, compared to other platforms subject to nothing of the sort, having been previously deregulated, to astonishing progress and success. Think about the reported 85 to 100 billion dollar investment by the cable companies in broadband facilities following the cable industry’s deregulation or the rapid migration of cellphones from the domain of business road warrior types to ubiquitous consumer device (and glitzy fashion accessory).
I can think of few more uncomfortable situations than meeting with business unit decision makers on their home turf, far away from Washington, in a room populated with engineers excited – jumpy, even – about the products your company’s engineers have labored over that the sales reps have displayed to rapture and acclaim, only to have someone mention the word “regulatory” and everything goes completely offline, like a printer that just won’t print.
In the meeting room, which suddenly seems far smaller, people turn to me as I endeavor to explain to a now-deflated audience the nuances of current regulatory “realities” using a completely foreign dialect (to them) and punctuated by such highlights as “things really began heating up in 1927 when…”
On the other hand, when regulatory uncertainty is reduced or minimized, things very well may go gangbusters, and next thing you know there are 2.5 million more people who have broadband, and counting. The bow wave pushes out, and the telcos head boldly off into video.
As expected, the legislation rewrites laws underpinning Titles I, II, and VI of the Act, which focus primarily on aspects of the wireline and cable sectors, and seeks to promote further network investment and innovation in these sectors by removing differences in how they are regulated, and by whom.
Before everyone gets too excited, keep in mind that the legislation does not address many other extremely complex, important, and related issues – Universal Service, for example – which subject is a primary interest of Senator Ted Stevens from
An Aside
If you’ve ever been to
The same rules apply for other infrastructure that tends to be interconnected here on the mainland, like telephone lines.
If you find it difficult to wrap your mind around this, my suggestion is to go to
Back
Meanwhile, the FCC currently is weighing how to reclassify wireline broadband Internet services under Title I of the Telecom Act to bring the telcos more in line with their more lightly regulated cable competitors, and particularly following the cable sector’s Supreme Court victory in Brand X.
It may be useful to think of cable as the older sibling that seems to get and get away with everything and more; only from their perspective, things still aren’t perfect, as they’re more than happy to tell anyone within earshot who’ll listen. In short, Senator Ensign’s legislation is particularly appropriate, and well-timed.
Senator John Ensign (R-NV), plans to introduce legislation tomorrow about how important aspects of the nation’s telecommunications infrastructure would be regulated.
Senator Ensign’s legislation takes a different approach toward streamlining notions that prevail in the current regulatory landscape, which is dominated by “silos” or vertically stacked rules that have more to do with technological origins rather than the services being provided to consumers. Rather than asking “how” or “what,” the dynamic shifts to “why isn't there more?"
Thus, the cable sector has a whole host of rules that define the relationship with local municipalities and broadcasters, which is how the service began rather than what it has come to be today, namely, a cutting edge producer of video programming and the nation’s dominant provider of broadband, powered by multiple sources of revenue, and a fast closer on voice telephony. The telephone companies, in turn, are governed by about 100,000 pages of rules (a loose estimate, and not my own) that trace long roots back to the origins of telephone service in this country.
Senator Ensign’s legislation is designed to flatten these silos by deregulating down, to achieve parity among services that compete for consumer and business dollars using a mosaic of technologies that increasingly blur the lines between services. Senator Ensign’s regulation takes a free market, investment friendly, and innovation oriented approach by removing barriers across sectors that might otherwise hinder deployment of new technologies for reasons relating to their regulatory classification, which add drag in terms of higher costs to market for some competitors.
Investment in the nation’s telecom infrastructure has been a key theme of the past few years, given concerns about the
I flew to
The eerie cellphone pictures snapped by Londoners escaping the tunnels recalled the amateur videos from last December’s Southeast Asian tsunami, where ordinary citizens going about their lives – going to work, or on holiday – found themselves on the newsgathering front line, forwarding the images to the mainstream press, or posting files to the web.
In so doing, a new generation of amateur reporters and photographers have found ways to harness the technical capabilities of widespread consumer devices and a global telecommunications network for positive social effects. The outpouring of relief for the tsunami-stricken followed the world's awareness of the magnitude of destruction, and of their dire needs.
There is at least one picture from
The press took note of the calm manner in which Londoners made their way about that day, and their government continued to function, indeed excel, citing their past unpleasant experiences with violence and extremism, and attributing their orderly, civilized way of being: they are what they are, and behave accordingly.
As it so happens, while wandering about in a bookstore on Sunday, I spotted a small, brown paper pocket book: Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain, reproduced from the original US War Department issue from 1942. I flipped through the manual, and one of the headings caught my eye, in bold, the triumph of civilians living in wartime conditions:
“The British Came Through.”
Yesterday, the FCC released data on high speed services for Internet access for 2004, showing an increase of 34% for a total of 38 million “high speed” (exceeding 200 kbps in one direction) lines in service. The data is drawn from facilities-based providers, which must report twice a year the number of high speed connections in service.
In other reported data, asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) lines classified as “advanced services” (at least 200 kbps in both directions) increased by 88% during 2004, while cable modem advanced services increased by 36% during the same period.
Maybe this data has something to do with the price cuts and service upgrade wars currently raging between cable companies and telephone companies. Other good news: satellite and terrestrial wireless high speed connections increased by 50% (to 0.5 million lines), while fiber and powerline connections increased by 16% (to 0.7 million lines).
Increasing broadband adoption places more computing capabilities in the hands of businesses and consumers, benefiting productivity and workplace flexibility, while also providing additional entertainment and informational sources for Americans.
If you want to learn more about the employee discounts for new cars offered by the big three American auto manufacturers, you can do your research in advance without ever leaving the comfort of your high speed Internet connection, wherever that may be.
Or say you want to get the best hotel deal in another city, for a trip “planned” as closely as possible to real time – again, all you need is a high speed Internet connection. For the purposes of this hypothetical, “real time” means just showing up, or calling from just outside or even inside the hotel lobby.
At the heart of these widespread changes in how we live are intense debates fought at virtually every level by telecommunications policy makers. Communications isn’t just a “thing” anymore, or simply a means to an end; rather, the ability to rapidly organize and communicate large amounts of information increasingly defines who we are or what we are able to do, both individually, and as a people.
That’s why good news from the FCC on broadband is good news for all Americans.
