For Immediate Release

February 18, 1998

[Washington, D.C] - "The average consumer is going to be left out the technology explosion if the Federal Communications Commission doesn't get serious about encouraging investment in and deployment of high-speed information infrastructure to every home in America," according to Maureen Lewis, General Counsel of the nonprofit Alliance for Public Technology.

"The Commission has delayed fulfilling its responsibilities under Section 706," said Henry Geller, APT Board member and former FCC General Counsel. "Now it must move quickly to remove investment barriers to stimulate construction of the 'last mile' of the information superhighway to ensure that the highway reaches every home," concluded Mr. Geller, who contributed substantially to the petition.

In the first of its kind petition to the Federal Communications Commission, the Alliance for Public Technology (APT), a national consumer group with almost 300 individual and organizational members, urged immediate action by the FCC to implement Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Section 706 mandates that the FCC and its state counterparts facilitate timely deployment to all Americans of advanced telecommunications capabilities, defined as high-speed, high-capacity bandwith for interactive voice, data and video transmission.

"Our goal is to make advanced technology affordable and available in every home," said Dr. Barbara O'Connor, chair of the Alliance's Board of Directors. "Section 706 gives the Commission the tools it needs to make this goal a reality."

The petition faults the FCC for not paying more attention to the mandate of Section 706, which APT believes requires the FCC to use every possible proceeding to encourage deployment of advanced technology to American consumers. The filing seeks the Commission's expedited review and an immediate rulemaking to adopt specific policies to:

• Remove a substantial barrier to infrastructure investment by making the UNE (and wholesale TSR) requirements applicable only to the existing network (e.g., as of August 8, 1996) and not to future advanced capabilities;
• Gradually phase-out of the UNE/TELRIC regulatory scheme after a specified period of time (in the case of an RBOC, x number of years after it has received Section 271 authorization in a particular state),
• Set an appropriate sunset for the 251(c) regime;
• Consider eliminating depreciation regulation;
• Deal effectively with the embedded (stranded) cost issue;
• Bring the ISPs within an access scheme that imposes reasonable charges that will not inhibit continued strong growth of the Internet -- yet will afford incentives to invest and build high capacity, high-speed, packet-switched networks;
• Encourage price reform, pricing flexibility, and retail price deregulation; and
• Affirmatively promote infrastructure investment for advanced capabilities.

  In addition, the filing urges the Commission to take pro-active steps to ensure advanced universal service. Another recommendation emphasizes the need for federal and state policies that encourage partnerships between community institutions and telecom providers to aggregate effective demand for community-based technology applications. APT contends that the demand for these applications will pull the desired advanced services into communities that providers have traditionally neglected without government incentives.

  The Alliance for Public Technology (APT) is a nonprofit organization of more than 300 public interest groups and individuals. APT's members work together to foster broad access to affordable, usable information and communications services and technology for the purpose of bringing better and more affordable health care to all citizens, expanding educational opportunities for lifelong learning, enabling people with disabilities to function in ways they otherwise could not, creating opportunities for jobs and economic advancement, making government more responsive to all citizens and simplifying access to communications technology.

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