Lame-duck session signals difficult Telecom Act rewrite

Last week's last-minute passage of telecom legislation before Congress adjourned for the year was a welcome occurrence, but the struggles to get the package approved underscore the problems lawmakers will have trying to rewrite the 1996 Telecom Act beginning next year.

Each of the three items included in the package -- E-911 funding, the spectrum relocation trust fund and a one-year reprieve to an accounting problem regarding universal-service support for schools and libraries -- had more than enough support in both the Senate and the House.

Not only was there consensus for the measures, there was an obvious negative impact to not acting. Without the spectrum trust fund legislation, an auction that could put billions of dollars into the U.S. Treasury likely would not be conducted. Without the universal-service fix, phone bills would have to increase or schools and libraries would not get their funding.

There also was a clear deadline. If the telecom package was not passed before Congress adjourned for the year, lawmakers would have to restart the legislative process for these items. This would have been especially difficult with the spectrum trust fund, which required considerable negotiation with the Department of Defense. And the E-911 legislation already had been in a holding pattern for a year and a half.

In the end, a deal was struck. That's the good news. The bad news is that this legislative package almost was undone despite consensus support, obvious penalties for inactivity and the pressure of a deadline -- characteristics that are unlikely to exist in a Telecom Act rewrite that will be fraught with complexities and divisiveness.

Many in telecom have expressed the hope that Congress will address changes to the rules governing the industry within the next two years. I hope they are right. But this episode with relatively non-controversial legislation is far from encouraging.

E-mail me at djackson@primediabusiness.com.