NEW YORK-While wireless and wireline carriers assess and respond to the effects of the 1996 Telecom Reform Act on their business, the Federal Communications Commission also must adapt quickly to its new mission in enforcing the law.
“We have an unprecedented opportunity to permit competition, and to do something we’ve never done well, which is to explore cost issues,” said Jim Coltharp, chief economist for the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
Coltharp was a speaker at a conference April 10 titled “The Telecom Act of 1996: Rolling Out the New Vision,” hosted by Paul Kagan Associates Inc. of Carmel, Calif. Coltharp stressed that the views he expressed are his own and not necessarily representative of an official FCC position.
“There is a revolution in telecommunications, and the definition of competition has changed from two to three years ago when it meant one-on-one competition,” he said. “Now, there are strategic alliances among providers for one-stop-shop of many services.”
The robust bidding in the FCC’s C-block auction for personal communications services is one indication that wireless providers, in particular, see many opportunities opening up.
“The market for video, telephony and wireless will occur differently, even in the same places with the same demographics,” Coltharp said. “Therefore, it is important for the FCC to think in terms of parity. It is no longer useful to operate under vestiges of common carrier law. Hopefully, the new legislation will give us the opportunity to move away from that.”
Many of the policy considerations remain the same, however, such as questions of jurisdiction and “implementation of more flexible numbering regimes for people entering wireless and wireline,” he said.
New policies put in place should permit diverse business strategies under changing business conditions.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Coltharp and other speakers said the new law will usher in far greater consideration of consumer preferences by telecommunications companies than has been the case.
“The demand side will affect the pace of change,” he said. “This is very important, and we need to respect it.”
