0117.1 Hot Topics

    Bridging the Digital Divide – Opportunities for

      Companies Targeting Ethnic Consumers

    WaveRider Launches LMS3000 Non-Line-Of-Sight Wireless

      System

    Japan Telecom to Offer Optical Network Service

 

0117.2 Story of the Issue

    Fair Use or Copyright Violation?

 

0117.3   3D

    Quantum3D and Carmel Applied Technology Chosen by

      Sikorsky Aicraft for Helicopter Simulators

 

0117.4 Wireless

    FASTNET Connects Fixed Wireless Broadband Customer in

      Lehigh Valley Market

    North American GSM/PCS Users Top 10 Million Mark

 

0117.5 Telecom

    Japanese Government Forces Competition

    House Passes Telecom Regulatory Relief Bill

 

--------------------------------------

 

0117.1 Hot Topics

 

***Bridging the Digital Divide – Opportunities for Companies Targeting Ethnic Consumers

 

The Insight Research Corporation has recently released a report entitled, “Web Portals, ISPs, IP Telephony & The Ethnic Consumer: Bridging the Digital Divide 2000-2005. This report presents their analysis of the way affinity portals, based on demographics, such as gender or race, can attract users not served by the large horizontal portals that most of us recognize today – and therefore have an off-setting advantage. This is especially true because, according to the report, the US Census predicts that soon after the mid-21^st century, non-Hispanic Caucasians will become the minority, accounting for less than 50% of the US population. Specifically, the number of non-Hispanic Caucasians will decline from 71.8% of the total US population in 2000 to 62.4% by 2025.

 

Insight commissioned a telephone market research study that accumulated feedback from consumers on their information technology usage. The study consisted of 1,171 interviews with an equal number of male and female adults, 18 years of age and older, across three major ethnic groups. Key findings include the following:

 

Asian Americans are 70% more likely to be online at home than other ethnic groups. Even lower-income Asian Americans are tech savvy – nearly 1/3 of the households earning less than $15,000 a year are online according to the NTIA/ESA.

 

Income still remains the greatest determinant for home Internet access though. There is almost no digital divide among the wealthiest of Americans. At the highest educational levels, differences in Internet usage between race/ethnicity are slight as well.

 

Internet access revenues will more than triple in 2005, increasing to more than $11 billion. Access revenues from ethnic households will account for nearly 28% of that total, or $3.1 billion.

 

In 2001, African Americans represent a consumer group with a buying power of $572.1 billion, Hispanic Americans $452.4 billion and Asian Americans $253.8 billion (buying power is the disposable personal income).

 

For more information on this report, go to:

 

http://www.insight-corp.com

 

***WaveRider Launches LMS3000 Non-Line-Of-Sight Wireless System

(March 29)

 

WaveRider Communications, a global provider of fixed wireless Internet access products, has commercially launched its LMS3000, a non-line-of-sight fixed wireless Internet access system. The latest addition to the company's Last Mile Solution product family, the LMS3000 provides a solution that enables Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecommunications carriers to deliver 'last mile' high speed Internet access to commercial, (SOHO) business and residential subscribers.

 

The LMS3000 system delivers Internet access at speeds up to 1Mbps, and includes a small end-user modem and indoor antenna that can be installed by subscribers. The user-installed modem, which has been granted approval by the FCC, eliminates the cost for professional installations required for the roll-out of existing competing technologies.

 

The LMS3000 operates in the license-exempt 900 Mhz spectrum, and is a cost-effective solution for Wireless ISPs (WISPs) to serve markets with low to medium population densities, where there is a high demand for high-speed access, but limited access via traditional wired networks.

 

The LMS3000 can support over 10,000 subscribers per system, and includes WaveRider's Network Management System (NMS) which enables WISPs to conduct advanced networking functions including bandwidth shaping, setting up new subscribers, monitoring the operation of equipment and initiating network changes to avoid service disruptions. The network management system also enables service providers to guarantee varying levels of services for customers.

 

WaveRider's LMS3000 has been deployed in Southern Alberta by Platinum Communications Corporation which is currently delivering high-speed wireless Internet access to two communities.

 

WaveRider's Last Mile Solution (LMS) products are networked wireless systems that deliver broadband Internet access to large, medium and small office/home office (SOHO) businesses and residences, using secure spread-spectrum radio technology in the license-exempt 2.4 GHz and 900 MHz ISM bands.

 

http://www.waverider.com

 

***Japan Telecom to Offer Optical Network Service

(March 30)

 

According to the Nikkei English News, Japan Telecom and four other firms plan to offer high-speed optical telecommunications services in Tokyo's Tennozu district using fiber-optic cables laid in air conditioning tunnels. The firms will offer Internet connection services that cost 30% below average as well as data transmission and telephone services.

 

The four other firms are DDI, known as KDDI, MCI WorldCom Japan Co., Cable & Wireless IDC and KVH Telecom of the Fidelity group of the U.S. The five firms invested a total of some 100 million yen to jointly lay a 2km fiber-optic cable in a tunnel owned by Tennozu Area Service, a local air conditioning company.

 

The companies will separately offer the services to some 200 firms in the Tennozu district. Tennozu is the third area in Japan after the Marunouchi and Ikebukuro districts, both in Tokyo, where fiber-optic cables are laid in air conditioning tunnels.

 

Using the tunnels, which are connected directly to the interiors of buildings, helps cut the time for laying cables by more than half. Tunnels also enable the amount of capital investment to be reduced by one-third as they do away with the necessity for digging up public roads and passing cables through walls.

 

0117.2 Story of the Issue

 

***Fair Use or Copyright Violation?

By Amanda Rogos

 

Which view is correct?

 

     Hollywood, in the form of music and movie companies, collectively seek to protect the value of the products created by musicians and producers.

 

     Hollywood, in the form of music and movie companies, is the ultimate expression of greed, interested in only its own self-preservation and not the public, which is its customer.

 

     Consumers only want reasonable opportunities to listen to music and video in their own homes.

 

     Consumers will take every opportunity to steal artistic property, pass it around and ignore any concept of property rights.

 

It may be hard to believe but the role of consumers under each view is embodied in a law under the concept of fair use - yet, few principles invoke such strong responses. Early in the Internet era, circa 1997+, the prevailing view was that digital media would fundamentally change the relationship between consumers and media. Copies would be everywhere and fair use would be dramatically extended. Then digital Rights Management (DRM), water marking, public keys, peer to peer and other technologies entered to make boundaries all the more difficult to establish. Now, with the legal defeat of Napster the ground has shifted again. No matter where the fair use line is drawn in the sand it will have major economic consequences.

 

At the CES show in January we began to follow the movie and recording industry’s challenges to the principle of fair use, which allows consumers to make personal copies of copyrighted materials. Since that time, Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has voiced concerns that the future growth of consumer electronics could be impacted if consumer fair use is terminated. Consumers are left somewhere in the middle, with some voicing concern over copyrighted works and artist compensation and others increasing their file downloads from their homes/offices in expectation of Napster’s demise. In order to better understand the issue we will outline copyright and fair use principles and summarize the events of a conference, the Digital Download, sponsored by the CEA, to discuss these issues.

 

 

Background

 

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was signed into law by President Clinton in October 1998. The legislation includes five titles, two 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties and a number of copyright-related issues. The specific titles are as follows:

 

Title I, WIPO Copyright and Performance and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act of 1998 (the WIPO treaties were an attempt to encourage countries around the world to develop similar protection and laws for intellectual property).

 

Title II, the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act - sets limitations on the liability of ISPs for copyright infringement when engaging in activities

 

Title III, the Computer Maintenance Competition Assurance Act – allows computer programs to be copied for purposes of maintenance and repair

 

Title IV, contains six miscellaneous provisions relating to functions of the Copyright office, distance education, exceptions in the act for libraries, Webcasting of sound recordings on the Internet and bargaining agreement obligations in the case of transfers of rights in motion pictures.

 

Title V, the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act – creates protection for the design of vessel hulls

 

Title IV is of the most interest in this case, because it addresses fair use conditions for institutions such as libraries and educational institutions, reverse engineering and encryption research, the protection of minors and for personal privacy and security testing use. This title was purposely developed with broad policies to allow for individual interpretation.

 

Since the enactment of DMCA, much has happened – most importantly Napster has revolutionized media sharing capabilities and transformed the media industry indefinitely. This has initiated a debate that has grown to encompass the entertainment and consumer electronics industries, consumers and the US Government.

 

 

Napster Court Decision

 

In the latest episode of Napster versus the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), a three-judge panel of the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused to grant the record industry’s request to shut Napster down completely. The court ruled instead that Napster must remove any copyrighted material that had previously been available. Since that time, Napster has begun blocking user access to an estimated 2 million copyrighted files, but users of the service say, although it is more complicated, files can still be found and downloaded. The company had previously offered a five-year $1 billion deal to recording companies for the right to use their music, but the industry did not agree to the deal.

 

The outcome of this battle will define how other media – books and video files – will be distributed over the Internet - and opinions differ by industry and individual. As we reported in our “2001 Global Internet Summit” article, (WAVE 0115) Jonathon Sacks, President of AOL Interactive believes that these policy and legal efforts surrounding MP3 copyright have only gated legitimate standards groups, while fueling Napster with free marketing and therefore increased subscribership. This may be true - according to Reuters, since first lawsuit was filed by the RIAA in December 1999 the number of Napster users has exploded to more than 60 million.

 

A pro-Napster argument is presented in an online article authored by Michael Boldrin, Professor of Economics at the University of Minnesota and David Levine, Armen Alchian Professor of Economic Theory at UCLA (http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/napster.htm). These professors posit that the record industry’s argument is not over the right to sell products, because no one uses Napster to steal CDs, but rather over the ability to regulate the future use of products by those who purchase them. In Napster’s case, no one has accused users of stealing the CDs, just making them available to others. They liken this situation to buying a car or CD – which you can loan, sell or give to someone and become a direct competitor to the original manufacturer.

 

The RIAA has argued that consumers should not have the right to resell the music because, by breaking their supplier monopoly, creative incentive to new artists is degraded. Boldrin and Levine conclude that, “What is at issue, then, is not "theft", but rather the legal protection of a monopoly…if the monopolist has to compete with his own past customers then his ability to extract money from his new customers is reduced.”

 

On the other hand, US House Representative Billy Tauzin, although amazed and impressed with Shawn Fanning’s technological abilities, believes that Napster was, “engaging in a business plan that financially benefited at the expense of copyrighted works,” and therefore the courts had no choice but to limit their services. Tauzin and the US government are becoming increasingly involved in this debate, as seen below.

 

 

Congressional Action

 

On September 25, 2000, House member Rick Boucher introduced the Music Owner’s Listening Rights Act of 2000, which would allow consumers to store their own legitimately purchased music on an Internet site for access anytime, anywhere. Boucher followed that act by criticizing the decision of the Librarian of Congress in their work to define fair use policies for the DMCA, stating, “This disappointing decision has moved our Nation one step closer to a ‘pay-per-use’ society…” and expressed little doubt that the 107^th Congress would consider revisions to the Copyright Act to preserve the consumers’ rights of media usage. Since then Boucher has voiced his intent to introduce several bills that would ensure digital home recording rights and the fair use of copyrighted works for institutions such as schools, libraries and students.

 

Tauzin has also been vocal in this debate, voicing concern that intellectual property legislation might hurt consumers’ rights. Speaking at the Digital Download Conference Tauzin suggested that a balance was needed, and that the recording industry would have to find a way to live “harmoniously” with new technology and applauded the CEA’s work to balance the copyright holder’s rights with the consumers.

 

Not everyone is in agreement. On February 14^th of this year, Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Leahy released a joint High Technology and Intellectual Property agenda that would include, among other things, a discussion of how the copyright system should apply to the Internet - with the intent of strengthening copyright protection.

 

Consumer electronics and independent industry groups have also begun to work on technology solutions including the 5C protection, SDMI and watermarking, but whether they will be compatible with government or Hollywood standards or accepted in the industry is unclear. An inherent risk in each of these is the ability to alienate consumers by making the protection too restrictive. Cary Sherman, Executive Senior Vice President and General Counsel, RIAA believes that the goal should be to dissuade people from violation instead of restrict their abilities.

 

Referring to the current state of the market - industry initiatives, Napster in the courts and legislation beginning to take shape in the government, Representative Tauzin said it well, “This is just the beginning of the battle as we see it.”

 

 

View of the CEA - Digital Download Conference

 

The Consumer Electronics Association recently held a one-day conference, entitled “The Digital Download: Public Access to Content in a Digital World” to hold discussions on the “proper balance between home recording and fair use rights, intellectual property and new technologies…”

 

CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro began the conference making it clear that he condemns piracy but at the same time believes that consumers right to “time shift, place shift, resell and lend content they have legitimate access to, must be preserved.” He cited a study conducted in February 2001 by eBrain (a service of the Consumer Electronics Association) that found that although very few people are currently paying to download digital content, many were neutral or willing to accept some form of payment in the future.

 

Specifically, about 48% of the respondents were either neutral or in support of some type of payment system. The study showed that opposition was highest regarding information, reports and pictures and lowest for computing software and electronic books. Interestingly enough, the items facing the least opposition to payment, computing software and electronic books, are also the items that are most frequently paid for today. The CEA believes that this suggests willingness to pay will increase as people become familiar with having to pay.

 

Frequency of Paying to Download Content*

 

Pictures                         3%

Games                            6%

Computing Software              26%

Information or Reports           2%

Audio files                      6%

Sound files                      2%

Video clips/movies               4%

Electronic books                23%

 

*Among online adults who HAVE downloaded each type of content

 

Opinions about Charging Fees to Download Content from the Internet*

 

                  Overall           MP3 File Users

Support              24%                   20%

Neutral              24%                   21%

Oppose               49%                   57%

 

*Don’t know responses not shown

 

The study polled 1,815 online US adults.

 

During the course of the conference, representatives from the movie and recording industries voice their opinions on Napster, copyright protection and legislation.

 

At a panel entitled Digital Freedom vs. Digital Restraint, Fritz Attaway, Executive Vice President, Government Affairs of the Motion Picture Association of America, stated his belief that the sheer enormity of works being downloaded has had a monetary affect on copyright holders already. According to the Motion Picture Association, in 1999 there were 150,000 unauthorized movie downloads per day. They estimate that this has grown to 350,000-400,000 today and will increase to over 1 million by the end of the year. He argued that this did not constitute fair use, which was meant for education and institutional use of portions of works – not entire works on this large of a scale.

 

Hillary Rosen, President and CEO of the RIAA (not in attendance at the conference) contends on the other hand, that this, “is not a matter of profits and losses…but rather one of defending the creative community’s right to do with their property how they wish. And what they wish…is to meet consumer demand and bring music to the Internet.” She argues that not only profits but incentives to create are harmed by these services.

 

On the other side of the debate, Jonathan Potter, Executive Director, Digital Media Association, argued that his organization has dozens of members waiting for licenses for secure music download and Web casting solutions that are not getting licensed because of the music industry’s fear of loss of control. “Therefore the unlicensed guy [Napster] has won.” In an argument similar to AOL Interactive’s, Potter contends that by focusing only on control, the industry has created a market vacuum in which consumers flee to the available solution (unlicensed) - because there is no other choice.

 

Chuck D, artist and Internet music advocate for Rapstation.com, compared the recording industry’s claims of copyright protection to a “baby shield” – in order to protect their own controlling interests (while financing their own executives and lawyers with heightened salaries, houses in Bel Air…). “For the first time the public…has control over the technology a little more than the industry itself” and they are fighting to get it back.

 

 

Consumer Impact

 

There are really two scenarios. One, a scenario similar to the current Napster environment – where, representing a very liberal interpretation of fair use, there is free use of media content (which the media industries are challenging). Within this scenario, individuals like Shawn Fanning would be encouraged to create new technology solutions, which would include copyright protection along with innovative consumer services. This could enable real, full-scale video-on-demand offering hundreds of movies for anytime viewing, pre-purchase samples of music online, similar to music stores, music, video and image file rental for a limited time period with copying restrictions and the ability to move content within a household/personal space to various devices.

 

In another scenario the media industry could restrict personal use and gate legitimate attempts at new technologies to protect their monopoly. This represents a very strict interpretation of fair use and one that Hollywood could implement quite simply with digital rights management and copy protection. Consumers would be restricted in their ability to watch or listen to content and would not be allowed to transfer content to another media source. In this situation consumers could:

 

A) buy music and videos from a traditional source – and then remain limited in their use of this media or

B) use technologies like Napster to freely distribute music without full permission (if Hollywood does not shut this type of service down completely)

 

Manus Cooney, Vice President of Corporate and Public Policy at Napster thinks that imposing this paradigm, where established media have complete and final control of online distribution will hurt consumers. Luckily Congressmen Rick Boucher and Billy Tauzin, the CEA and Gary Shapiro and others within the industry agree – and are willing to work towards a better solution that offers a balance between the two.

 

In summary, the potential of fair use is now an open issue.

 

http://www.ce.org

http://www.ria.org

http://www.educause.edu/issues/dmca.html

 

0117.3   3D

 

***Quantum3D and Carmel Applied Technology Chosen by Sikorsky Aicraft for Helicopter Simulators

(March 27)

 

Quantum3D and Carmel Applied Technologies (CATI) have announced the delivery of high-performance Image Generators based on CATI’s X-IG Image Generation (IG) software and Quantum3D AAlchemy TX 8264SB PC-Based Visual Computing Systems for use on Sikorsky Aircraft CH-60 and S-92 helicopter simulators.

 

Under contract from the Sikorsky Flight Simulation Facility in Stratford, Connecticut, the AAlchemy systems and X-IG software have been purchased for engineering development simulators for Sikorsky’s medium-lift helicopter, the S-92. Currently under development, the S-92 first flew in December 1998 and flight certification is expected in 2002. Based on U.S. Army BLACK HAWK and U.S. Navy SEAHAWK helicopters, the S-92 will serve a variety of commercial and international utility needs, including passenger (19-22 capacity), cargo, aero-medical, search and rescue and resource development support. The S-92 is also designed for offshore platform and executive transport use. With its low purchase price and operating cost, roomy interior and quiet cabin, the S-92 stands to become one of Sikorsky's most useful and versatile helicopters to hit the skies.

An additional system was purchased by Sikorsky for an engineering development simulator for the U.S. Navy TOW Coupler (CH-60), which performs an array of sea borne operations, including ASW.

 

X-IG is a cross-platform software image generator (IG) that features capabilities including high polygon performance, texture paging, and physics-based sensor support required for high-fidelity visual simulation and training applications. Unlike competitive software IG products that simply drape high-resolution imagery over low-resolution terrain, X-IG utilizes platform-specific optimization and load management to maximize image quality while sustaining 60Hz performance by balancing the use of high-density polygon terrain and model geometries with high-resolution, texture-paged imagery. X-IG supports the IG features, such as Mission Functions (height of terrain/height above terrain, laser ranging, collision detection, line-of-sight inter-visibility), physics-based sensors (FLIR, NVG, DayTV, LLTV), weather effects (including thunderstorms), real-time 3D sea states, fog (including ground fog, fog, and haze), and lighting (FLOLS, VASI, PAPI, beacons, etc). 

 

The AAlchemy family of scalable PC-based Visual Computing Systems, utilizes Quantum3D’s Parallel Rendering Architecture based on 3dfx and NVIDIA graphics technology and Quantum3D’s Performance Trilinear capability that enables two-pixel per clock operation that enables real-time rendering of complex synthetic environments at high sustained frame rates. AAlchemy employs a dual Intel Pentium-III architecture and features: T-buffer full-scene, sub-pixel anti-aliasing with 4 or 8 sub-samples, high-resolution output with multiple pixel formats, high resolution texture maps (up to 2k x 2k) with texture compression for up to 124.26 Megatexels of on board storage and texture paging rates at up to 264 Megatexels/sec, SwapLock and SyncLock precision, hardware-based inter-channel synchronization, QSync external source synchronization and digital post processing capabilities for sensor simulation. AAlchemy is an open architecture PC-IG that supports the 3dfx Glide API as well as SimGL, Quantum3D’s VST-optimized graphics API that is based on the published OpenGL API, but is not an implementation which is certified or licensed by Silicon Graphics under the OpenGL API, both of which are employed by real-time 3D scene managers and APIs, including CATI X-IG.

 

The AAlchemy TX 8264SB utilizes eight VSA-100 chips operating in parallel with an aggregate graphics memory bandwidth of 21.25 GB/sec and provides a measured sustained polygon rate of up to 1.54 million independent, trilinear textured triangles trilinear and a pixel fill rate of 481 Megapixels/sec, with performance trilinear, 4-subpixel anti-aliasing, per-pixel fog and alpha-blending enabled.

 

http://www.sikorsky.com

http://www.catinet.com

http://www.quantum3d.com

 

0117.4 Wireless

 

***FASTNET Connects Fixed Wireless Broadband Customer in Lehigh Valley Market

(March 26)

 

FASTNET Corporation, a business Internet communications, web hosting and colocation provider since 1994, announced the connection of a fixed wireless customer, Clark Media, in Bethlehem, Pa. FASTNET is beginning its fixed wireless Internet access deployment in two of its eight core markets - the Lehigh Valley market, in Eastern Pennsylvania, and the Harrisburg market, in Central Pennsylvania. FASTNET is now offering scalable, secure, wireless network connections to enable its enterprise customers to connect to the Internet. Provisioning intervals for fixed wireless are expected to be less than five days, in most cases, compared to 60 days when provisioned as a traditional wire line service through the incumbent exchange carriers.

 

FASTNET is using a mix of licensed and unlicensed spectrum based products and technologies to provision its fixed wireless network. In order to facilitate this, FASTNET has acquired Cybertech Wireless, a company providing wireless services in the New York market.

 

http://www.fast.net

 

***North American GSM/PCS Users Top 10 Million Mark

(March 30)

 

According to Newsbytes figures just released by the GSM North America Association (GSMNA) show that adoption of GSM (PCS) in Canada and the US has grown to more 10.5 million at the end of February, up from 8.2 million two months previously. The Association attributes the growth to the installation of overlay GSM networks to existing wireless networks across the US.

 

Coupled with the recent arrival of multi-band, multi-standard handsets in the US and Canadian market wireless users are starting to realize they can have a single multi-standard handset that gives them the best services available in an area of network coverage.

 

The GSMNA estimates that GSM/PCS services are now adding customers at the rate of six per minute in the US and Canada, with coverage already available in more than 6,500 cities in 48 US states and six Canadian provinces. With the impending launch in Chicago, GSM/PCS operators would also serve 25 of the top 25 largest North American markets. In addition, the will also serve all of the top 50 cities/areas visited in North America by foreign visitors.

 

http://www.gsmworld.com

 

0117.5 Telecom

 

***Japanese Government Forces Competition

(March 30)

 

According to the Nihon Keizai financial daily, the Japanese government will propose breaking up Japan's largest telephone company if it refuses to promote competition and keeps national calling costs high. The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications would also consider barring the company from expanding into new sectors. The warning to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone was to be included in a government plan that aimed at putting Japan on equal standing with the United States in Internet use, the reported.

 

The government would consider breaking up NTT in the fall of 2003 if the company remains intransigent. It will also ask NTT to reduce its stake in subsidiaries such as mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo to reduce its dominance over the communications market, another newspaper reported.

 

***House Passes Telecom Regulatory Relief Bill

(March 22)

 

According to Newsbytes, the House of Representatives has passed legislation that would exempt most local telephone companies from complying with several tariff, merger and reporting regulations. The legislation, H.R. 496, "The Independent Telecommunications Consumer Enhancement Act" is a bill designed to encourage broadband deployment in rural areas by freeing up resources that telecommunications providers otherwise would have to commit toward processing periodic reports required by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

 

Introduced earlier this year by Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo, the legislation has become known as the "2 percent carrier," because it relaxes many Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules for local exchange carriers that serve less than 2 percent of the nation's telephone customers. While the measure has been billed as a way to ease rules faced by small to mid- sized local telephone companies, nearly 1,300 - or all but the four largest incumbent local telephone companies - will be covered under the legislation.

 

The bill would require the FCC to conduct separate evaluations on any rules it designs for local phone service providers before taking into consideration special requirements for 2 percent carriers. It also exempts carriers from submitting "cost allocation manuals" for FCC review, though they still must file an annual certification that it complies with FCC rules.

 

Carriers also would be exempt from Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which requires local providers to set up separate subsidiaries for offering advanced telecom services, such as Internet or paging services. The bill also allows small carriers to escape certain tariff rules, and to file changes to interstate service with one day's notice.

 

The legislation also would require the FCC to approve merger applications for 2 percent carriers within 60 days of filing.

 

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Conrad Burns, R-Mont., has included the legislation as one of his "Tech Seven" agenda items slated for passage this year.

 

AT&T Corp. and several consumers groups have opposed the bill, saying it would allow dominant carriers to protect their turf in a particular region without having to comply with any of the requirements put in place to regulate competition. Mike Travieso, chair of the telecommunications committee for the National Association for State Utility Consumer Advocates, said the group would focus its energies on killing the Senate version of the bill.