Equal access, Telecom act gives little benefit to blacks, experts say

As in the mainstream market, the 1996 Telecommunications Act a year and a half later has resulted in little improvement in rates and choices for minorities, a group of industry insiders said last week. Indeed, blacks, Latinos and other ethnic minorities will probably be the last to receive any benefits from deregulation.

"In the kind of competitive environment we're in now, blacks are scrambling to define our role in the 21st century,' said Byron Marchant, senior vice president and general counsel for Black Entertainment Television Holdings Inc. "Let's face it: Nobody black is going get a loan of $200 billion to get into the local calling market.'

Lisa Smith, senior policy counsel for MCI, and Catherine Sandoval, director of the office of communications business opportunities for the Federal Communications Commission, addressed these issues along with Marchant during a workshop, one of dozens of sessions on national and international issues and their effect on blacks held during the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention in Chicago earlier this month.

As far as other media go, ethnic minorities do have better access to radio and televisions stations than ever before, Sandoval said. The FCC encourages minority-owned entities to find a niche and fill it, she said. One such company owned by Latinos sponsors a half-hour, Spanish-language radio call-in show to specifically answer questions about cellular phones.

"Why do [cell phones] pick up some places and not others, what are roaming charges all about - that kind of thing,' she said. "The show is wildly popular, and it caters to a very underserved market. [The FCC believes] there are lots of opportunities for minorities out there.'

Another way the telecom act will improve minority lives is its requirement that schools and libraries are connected to the Internet. The number of blacks and Latinos who have home computers is far below that of whites, numerous studies reveal.

But ensuring that schools and libraries have Internet access doesn't necessarily mean it will benefit everyone, Marchant said.

"Anybody can hook up a modem. There is still a huge implementation problem,' he said. "Innercity schools are already crowded with students and [are] understaffed. Having computers in the schools means having a teacher to instruct the students and having enough terminals so that the students get to use them for more than 20 minutes a week. In the black community, there is a tremendous gap. People don't feel connected to the way things are flowing.'

That is where public education comes in, said Smith.

"People need to pay attention to what telecom competitors are telling them and make their own choices,' she said.

"It's not the role of the government anymore. The states and the courts are going to be fighting it out, and whatever happens at that high level needs to be translated to the man on the street," she said.

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