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CWA: FCC Misses Opportunity to Boost Telecom Jobs
The Federal Communications Commission, as part of a review of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, voted in February to keep in place burdensome requirements affecting the regional Bell companies.
The rules, which require the Bell companies to lease voice lines, switching and other elements of their networks at below-cost rates to competitors like AT&T and WorldCom, are a disaster for the industry and for hundreds of thousands of CWA-represented workers, CWA said.
"This extremely shortsighted decision will do significant harm not only to workers, who will lose jobs as the telecom sector continues its free fall, but to consumers who will suffer from the lack of competition and services development as companies like AT&T and WorldCom refuse to invest in network elements. The FCC missed a real opportunity to boost investment in telecommunications, which would have produced a positive impact on our struggling national economy," CWA President Morton Bahr said.
CWA had joined the Bell companies in seeking an end to this rule, stressing that workers and consumers would be better served by the expansion of facilities-based competition, which would mean more jobs and more services as companies develop and expand their networks.
Instead, the FCC, by a 3-2 vote, largely gave the states the key decision-making role on setting rates for these network services. CWA criticized the FCC action, noting that it sets up policy battlegrounds in each of the 50 states instead of establishing the national policy necessary to boost investment and competition in the struggling telecom sector.
The regional Bells were released from having to provide their competitors with low-cost access to the high-speed Internet network and equipment the Bell companies have created, a decision that moves policy in the right direction to promote the availability of information technology for all Americans, CWA said.
The 1996 Telecommunications Act required the regional Bell companies to share their equipment with competitors at below-value costs. Earlier rules written by the FCC were overturned by a federal appeals court; these latest rules will likely result in both federal and state litigation and other challenges, analysts said.
The collapse of the telecommunications and information technology industry has cost more than half a million jobs, CWA noted. Instead of establishing a national policy and continuity in the industry, the FCC has created uncertainty and harmed investment potential, CWA said.
The rules, which require the Bell companies to lease voice lines, switching and other elements of their networks at below-cost rates to competitors like AT&T and WorldCom, are a disaster for the industry and for hundreds of thousands of CWA-represented workers, CWA said.
"This extremely shortsighted decision will do significant harm not only to workers, who will lose jobs as the telecom sector continues its free fall, but to consumers who will suffer from the lack of competition and services development as companies like AT&T and WorldCom refuse to invest in network elements. The FCC missed a real opportunity to boost investment in telecommunications, which would have produced a positive impact on our struggling national economy," CWA President Morton Bahr said.
CWA had joined the Bell companies in seeking an end to this rule, stressing that workers and consumers would be better served by the expansion of facilities-based competition, which would mean more jobs and more services as companies develop and expand their networks.
Instead, the FCC, by a 3-2 vote, largely gave the states the key decision-making role on setting rates for these network services. CWA criticized the FCC action, noting that it sets up policy battlegrounds in each of the 50 states instead of establishing the national policy necessary to boost investment and competition in the struggling telecom sector.
The regional Bells were released from having to provide their competitors with low-cost access to the high-speed Internet network and equipment the Bell companies have created, a decision that moves policy in the right direction to promote the availability of information technology for all Americans, CWA said.
The 1996 Telecommunications Act required the regional Bell companies to share their equipment with competitors at below-value costs. Earlier rules written by the FCC were overturned by a federal appeals court; these latest rules will likely result in both federal and state litigation and other challenges, analysts said.
The collapse of the telecommunications and information technology industry has cost more than half a million jobs, CWA noted. Instead of establishing a national policy and continuity in the industry, the FCC has created uncertainty and harmed investment potential, CWA said.