Nick
01-22-07, 06:37 AM
SkyBOX: Bundle Breaking?
by Evie Haskell evie@Mediabiz.com
We know, of course, that he is just one legislator among hundreds in Washington D.C. We also realize that the ideas (both good and bad) of the nation's legislators are inevitably twisted into tinker-toy madness by the forces of lobbying, compromise, politicking et al. But Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) is one VERY important dude for telecom interests. (He sits on the Telecommunications and the Internet subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee AND is co-chairman of the Congressional Internet Caucus.) And if we were occupying corner offices at any major cable or telco company, we'd be a tad concerned about the latest ideas coming from the gentleman from Virginia.
In a recent interview for C-SPAN's "The Communicators" series, Boucher rehashed several of his well-known positions (i.e. he supports net neutrality, worries about broadband availability in rural America and thinks copyright protection devices should protect the rights of consumers as well as copyright holders.) But he didn't stop there. Among the other nuggets from the interview were a couple of special zingers for broadband providers.
Namely, to Boucher's way of thinking, broadband services should be available on an a la carte basis (that is not tied to any other products or services) AT THE SAME PRICES offered to customers taking multiple services from a company.
More specifically, Boucher said: "We need to find a way to encourage, or require, a broadband provider to offer standalone DSL so that customers don't have to get telephone voice service as a condition." (Yea, we know that DSL is telco specific, but what do you want to bet that this thought also applies to cable?) When asked if this means he supports rate regulation, Boucher demurred ... and then suggested that the FCC could require companies to adhere to price standards wherein standalone customers would be guaranteed service "at the lowest price typically offered to residential customers by that company or competitor companies."
Sounds like a bundle breaker to us. And just to make this Monday complete, we note that Rep. Boucher also tagged the broadband folks on the universal service fund issue. Said he, it's clearly time to modernize this fund "to get VoIP providers to pay into it .... (and) also to make broadband a subject for universal service expenditures." www.SkyReport.com - used with permission
by Evie Haskell evie@Mediabiz.com
We know, of course, that he is just one legislator among hundreds in Washington D.C. We also realize that the ideas (both good and bad) of the nation's legislators are inevitably twisted into tinker-toy madness by the forces of lobbying, compromise, politicking et al. But Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) is one VERY important dude for telecom interests. (He sits on the Telecommunications and the Internet subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee AND is co-chairman of the Congressional Internet Caucus.) And if we were occupying corner offices at any major cable or telco company, we'd be a tad concerned about the latest ideas coming from the gentleman from Virginia.
In a recent interview for C-SPAN's "The Communicators" series, Boucher rehashed several of his well-known positions (i.e. he supports net neutrality, worries about broadband availability in rural America and thinks copyright protection devices should protect the rights of consumers as well as copyright holders.) But he didn't stop there. Among the other nuggets from the interview were a couple of special zingers for broadband providers.
Namely, to Boucher's way of thinking, broadband services should be available on an a la carte basis (that is not tied to any other products or services) AT THE SAME PRICES offered to customers taking multiple services from a company.
More specifically, Boucher said: "We need to find a way to encourage, or require, a broadband provider to offer standalone DSL so that customers don't have to get telephone voice service as a condition." (Yea, we know that DSL is telco specific, but what do you want to bet that this thought also applies to cable?) When asked if this means he supports rate regulation, Boucher demurred ... and then suggested that the FCC could require companies to adhere to price standards wherein standalone customers would be guaranteed service "at the lowest price typically offered to residential customers by that company or competitor companies."
Sounds like a bundle breaker to us. And just to make this Monday complete, we note that Rep. Boucher also tagged the broadband folks on the universal service fund issue. Said he, it's clearly time to modernize this fund "to get VoIP providers to pay into it .... (and) also to make broadband a subject for universal service expenditures." www.SkyReport.com - used with permission