Government Needs To Relax Hold On Telecom

At a recent speech, Daniel Whelan, Verizon Pennslyvania's president and chief executive officer, advocated the need for government assistance, not harassment, when it comes to revolutionizing the communications industry.

"It's time to get the government out of the business of micro-managing the communications industry," Whelan says.

Whelan, addressing members of 12 of the state’s Montgomery County chambers of commerce, says that Verizon is also racing to assemble a national and global platform for integrated voice, data and video services.

Verizon, named after the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, has made major investments in digital and fiber-optic technologies, particularly for its data services. Verizon has spent $1 billion each year for the past three years, and plans to spend the same amount over the next two years.

"Electronic commerce has come into its own, with transactions expected to reach $1 trillion by 2003, and wireless is expected to grow to one billion users by 2004 or earlier," Whelan says.

According to Whelan there are problems brought on by the heavy hand and cost of government regulation. He also suggested the development of a modern regulatory framework for the Internet, which would accommodate globalization and the rapid changes that are shaping the industry.

Whelan said that as it stands, the current regulation model is harmful to investment, consumer welfare and market-based competition.

In October, the Commonwealth Court affirmed the state Public Utility Commission's authority to break up Verizon Pennsylvania's operations into separate wholesale and retail subsidiaries. Whelan says this plan would cost at least $1 billion to implement, including the cost of service improvements, network enhancements and price reductions.

Whelan says the present plan would stop the rapid development of telecommunications competition and delay savings on local and long-distance services for Verizon's customers in the state. Under the current plan, telecommunications costs in Pennslyvania are expected to be the highest in the country.