USTA attacks cable operators in pro Tauzin-Dingell ads

The United States Telecom Association unveiled an advertising campaign today that attacks the cable sector and its alleged monopoly in high-speed data transport.

The ads will run over the next several weeks in major Washington-area publications, leading up to the scheduled February 27 House vote on the controversial broadband deregulation bill sponsored by Reps. Billy Tauzin, R-La., and John Dingell, D-Mich. USTA staunchly supports the passage of Tauzin-Dingell.

The campaign takes issue with the cable industry’s 70 percent market share of the broadband Internet market and the sector’s “regulation-free environment.” In contrast, telecom companies “must carry out their broadband strategies according to heavy-handed rules intended to govern the traditional voice communications market,” according to the USTA.

The cable industry wasn’t amused. A spokesman for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association said in a statement that the association and its members believe market-based competition is the best way to bring broadband services to all Americans. “USTA’s new leadership is apparently unaware that the cable industry is not opposed to the Tauzin-Dingell bill,” he said.

In a letter to Tauzin delivered last April, the NCTA indicated it was concerned that a “broad rewrite” of the Telecom Act would create regulatory uncertainty and have an adverse effect on the capital markets and discourage “competitive investment.” However, the association wrote that it was pleased Tauzin-Dingell did not call for cable Internet services to be reclassified as telecommunications services or be subject to “common carrier-like regulation.”—Glenn Bischoff, Senior News Writer