TELCOS PARADE TO TRANSITION TEAM WITH BROADBAND PROGRAMS

摘要

Rural phone companies met with members of the Obama-Biden transition team to discuss proposals for broadband incentives in the economic recovery package, executives said. Verizon, AT&T, Qwest, and USTelecom met with the team last week to offer suggestions, company officials said. Documents from the meetings are starting to make their way to Change.gov, the transition team抯 Web site. The first document posted was from the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance, which asked Obama to aim broadband incentives first at unserved areas. The alliance suggests that policymakers give direct grants to providers for unserved areas, a strategy it says would provide the biggest economic benefit. Grants should be directed first to private bodies, governments becoming eligible in markets that don抰 respond. The speed requirement in high-cost areas should be 1.5 Mbps, the alliance said. nnTax credits and expensing rules can help carriers upgrade plant and equipment. The alliance suggested a 100 percent expensing allowance or 50 percent investment tax credit for networks that provide access of at least 1.5 Mbps. USTelecom asked government officials to 揷arefully consider?the possible ill effects of new regulations 搊n the growth and innovation that robust broadband investment is making possible.?Policymakers should concentrate on ensuring a regulatory system that encourages investment, deals with barriers to broadband adoption such as access to computers, maintain parity among competing broadband providers and target efforts toward high-cost, underserved areas, the group said. Transition team officials indicated that they may seek funding for the broadband mapping bill (S-1492) that Congress passed in October, an industry official said.