county news online
Akron Beacon Journal...
New era, new rules

Few industries have changed as rapidly as telecommunications. You can see the transformation in your cell phone, or the landline at home that receives less and less attention. It follows then that Ohio lawmakers must keep pace, making adjustments in the regulatory scheme for the industry. They enacted changes two years ago. Now they must act again, Senate Bill 271 promising to update rules that are more in line with telecommunications of the monopoly era.

The state Senate already has approved the bill, Democrats and Republicans joining in the overwhelming support. Now the House must follow, alert to the improved balance, consumers still protected yet telecommunications companies better positioned to invest in the direction the market has been moving — toward wireless and broadband.

Listen to critics of the legislation, and the impression created is one of households, especially the elderly in rural areas, left without reliable phone service or facing steep prices. Know that the new rules would apply only in markets deemed fully competitive by the state Public Utilities Commission. Thus, products and services would be available, the industry already offering an array of options, many embraced by seniors. That includes lifeline services, a market in which wireless providers have more customers in Ohio than AT&T.

The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Frank LaRose, a Copley Township Republican, would begin to relieve companies of outmoded regulation involving carrier of last resort. Fewer resources would be devoted to older technologies, or the products consumers increasingly are abandoning. Today, wireless phones outnumber landline phones by more than three times in Ohio. As wireless phone subscribers have increased by 210 percent the past decade, landline customers have decreased by 64 percent.

This is a matter of competitiveness for the state and the country. Those states that adjust their regulations more quickly will gain an edge in an economy heavily driven by the flow of information. Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana have taken the leap, recognizing that telecommunications firms will invest where the regulations have been modernized. The Federal Communications Commission has signaled the importance of states altering the carrier-of-last-resort regimen as part of a national strategy for advancing broadband to enhance the country’s global competitiveness.

Hard to believe such a strong majority of the state Senate is content to see Ohioans without an essential phone link, or to endure the fury that surely would follow. Neither do lawmakers want the state to fall behind, or miss an opportunity to advance. Customers have been expressing their preference in droves, and providers have responded with an array of products. That isn’t something to fear. This legislation seeks the practical and necessary, an update of regulations to reflect the realities of changing telecommunications.

Read this and other articles at the Akron Beacon Journal


 
site search by freefind

Submit
YOUR news ─ CLICK
click here to sign up for daily news updates
senior scribes

County News Online

is a Fundraiser for the Senior Scribes Scholarship Committee. All net profits go into a fund for Darke County Senior Scholarships
contact
Copyright © 2011 and design by cigs.kometweb.com