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Akron
Beacon Journal...
New era, new rules
Few industries have changed as rapidly as telecommunications. You can
see the transformation in your cell phone, or the landline at home that
receives less and less attention. It follows then that Ohio lawmakers
must keep pace, making adjustments in the regulatory scheme for the
industry. They enacted changes two years ago. Now they must act again,
Senate Bill 271 promising to update rules that are more in line with
telecommunications of the monopoly era.
The state Senate already has approved the bill, Democrats and
Republicans joining in the overwhelming support. Now the House must
follow, alert to the improved balance, consumers still protected yet
telecommunications companies better positioned to invest in the
direction the market has been moving — toward wireless and broadband.
Listen to critics of the legislation, and the impression created is one
of households, especially the elderly in rural areas, left without
reliable phone service or facing steep prices. Know that the new rules
would apply only in markets deemed fully competitive by the state
Public Utilities Commission. Thus, products and services would be
available, the industry already offering an array of options, many
embraced by seniors. That includes lifeline services, a market in which
wireless providers have more customers in Ohio than AT&T.
The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Frank LaRose, a Copley
Township Republican, would begin to relieve companies of outmoded
regulation involving carrier of last resort. Fewer resources would be
devoted to older technologies, or the products consumers increasingly
are abandoning. Today, wireless phones outnumber landline phones by
more than three times in Ohio. As wireless phone subscribers have
increased by 210 percent the past decade, landline customers have
decreased by 64 percent.
This is a matter of competitiveness for the state and the country.
Those states that adjust their regulations more quickly will gain an
edge in an economy heavily driven by the flow of information. Michigan,
Wisconsin and Indiana have taken the leap, recognizing that
telecommunications firms will invest where the regulations have been
modernized. The Federal Communications Commission has signaled the
importance of states altering the carrier-of-last-resort regimen as
part of a national strategy for advancing broadband to enhance the
country’s global competitiveness.
Hard to believe such a strong majority of the state Senate is content
to see Ohioans without an essential phone link, or to endure the fury
that surely would follow. Neither do lawmakers want the state to fall
behind, or miss an opportunity to advance. Customers have been
expressing their preference in droves, and providers have responded
with an array of products. That isn’t something to fear. This
legislation seeks the practical and necessary, an update of regulations
to reflect the realities of changing telecommunications.
Read this and other articles at the Akron Beacon Journal
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