CLECs lament Hollings’ pending retirement

Competitive carriers know a good thing when they lose it, which would explain their collective dismay upon getting the news yesterday that Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings, D-S.C., has decided not to seek reelection next year.

Competitive Telecommunications Association President Russell Frisby in a statement called Hollings a “staunch supporter of pro-competitive legislation,” and described his efforts to open local markets to competition, which contributed to the enactment of the Telecommunications Act in 1996, “heroic.” The trade group presented Hollings with its Champions of Competition Award in 2000.

Said Frisby: “The Senator’s presence on Capitol Hill will surely be missed.”

Hollings long had been a thorn in the side of the Bell companies. He introduced into the Senate in August 2001 legislation that would have forced the structural separation of the RBOCs. It also would have forced the FCC to turn over 50% of any fines it collected in an enforcement action to any competitive carrier that prevailed in a suit against an RBOC.

Last July, during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Hollings accused the Bells of playing a “sordid game,” by passing enforcement action fines along to their rate payers and by “working overtime” and using “every gimmick in the book” to maintain and extend their monopolies. “They began to question a bill [the Telecom Act] that their own lawyers wrote,” Hollings said at the time. “They have kept things tied up in the courts, and six years later they still have 90% of the last mile.”

Hollings also was an outspoken opponent of the pro-incumbent Tauzin-Dingell broadband deregulation legislation, helping to keep it under wraps in the Senate after it passed the House by a wide margin. At one point in February 2002, he called the legislation “blasphemy” designed to extend the monopoly the Bell companies enjoy in local voice to high-speed Internet services. (The Bells received eventually most of the relief they sought when the FCC issued its summary Triennial Review order in February 2003.)

He also was a frequent critic of FCC Chairman Michael Powell’s deregulation zeal. During a Senate subcommittee hearing in March 2002, Hollings accused Powell of neglecting his duties in executing the nation’s telecommunications policies in favor of a market-driven approach to determining the fate of competition.

John Ivanuska, vice president of carrier relations for competitive carrier Birch Telecom, said Hollings was a powerful force on the side of CLECs that will be missed and difficult to replace. “He refused to let the RBOC interests run amok and he was capable of stopping things dead in their tracks. He’s been a formidable foe to the RBOCs. They probably hate him,” Ivanuska said. “That’s the hard part of this. He’s a scary guy to lose.”

Pat Brogan, telecom analyst with Washington, D.C.-based Precursor Group, agreed: “Hollings has been a very strong supporter of AT&T and the CLECs in the Senate, and is a very powerful figure.”

But Hollings’ interest in telecom extended beyond the turf wars between ILECs and CLECs. In May 2003, he introduced Senate legislation that would quicken the pace of broadband deployment and adoption, particularly in rural and underserved areas, by tapping monies from the existing telephone excise tax to fund low-interest loans and grants that could be used by carriers to build out their networks. The legislation also would provide grants to universities and a variety of research and development laboratories with the goal of developing technology that would achieve transport speeds of 50 Mb/s to 100 Mb/s. In addition, the bill would establish pilot projects for wireless broadband technologies for deployment in rural and underserved areas.

“Senator Hollings has had a distinguished career, has been a leading voice on telecommunications issues and has played a significant role in shaping today’s communications marketplace,” said U.S. Telecom Association President and CEO Walter McCormick, in a statement.