Small Telecoms, Big Apple

I always love having a reason to visit New York City, one of my favorite cities in the world (ok, being raised in NY, I am a bit biased, but we do things better in NY than anywhere else: pizza...better...fashion...better...traffic...best). This past trip, I was able to take time to enjoy Central Park, and my run was the inspiration for my latest Last Mile posting. I was also able to walk past Ground Zero, the World Trade Center site, and it is still simply overwhelming, for lack of a better word. My reason for this particular trek up north: to see a New York University ("NYU") presentation on telecom issues related to the AT&T divestiture.

On Friday, March 6, 2009, I traveled to New York City to attend: Has Divestiture Worked? A 25th Anniversary Assessment of the Breakup of AT&T. The discussion took place at NYU, and was sponsored by the New York Chapter of the Internet Society ("ISOC-NY") and the Open Infrastructure Alliance ("OIA"). Among the panelists were Jonathan Askin, Bruce Kushnick, Dave Burstein and Joe Plotkin, all proponents for enhanced competition in the U.S. telecommunications market. Their biographies can all be found at:

http://25thanniversaryofthebreakupofatt.blogspot.com/

The event produced some interesting data and enabled folks to share their own personal experiences on the AT&T breakup and restructuring. Now, as Burstein pointed out himself, you always have to be careful of where you are getting data from and you have to be aware of how it is being manipulated-- I had some issues with Mark Cooper's findings, but I think Scott Cleland (participating in the audience) was able to jump in and rescue his point. Hopefully, the presentations will soon be made available on the web, and I am eagerly awaiting the release of new competition data from Teletruth, which should happen some time this week. Needless to say, all in the room were in agreement: there needs to be enhanced "competition on a regulated wire" in the U.S. telecommnications market. Moreover, the FCC needs to reshape itself as a transparent agency with increased regulatory certainty. One panelist referred to the Commission's recent activity as "irregulation." Other panelists shared the perspectives of small businesses, small ISPs and the creative community. Overall, the event was timely (right on the heels on the FCC and Telecom Act's 75th Anniversary as well, so cheers all around) and I hope it will encourage the proponents of competitive markets to hone their organizing skills and structure other useful discussions moving forward.

I must be honest: Given the current composition of the U.S. telecommunications market, I am always surprised to hear that there are in fact ISPs still out there (if you are an ISP, please, e-mail me-- I would love to see how many of you still exist). It was refreshing to hear that several small telecom companies are still pushing to provide consumers with personalized service, and I am interested in seeing how these entities will grow over the next few years. In the meantime, Chairman Copps is doing a fine job of steering the Commission away from the course it has been on, and it seems he and his staff are really working to address some of the transparency and other governance issues that many have been critical of these past few years.