1996 Telecommunications Act To Be Examined In Senate

The battered and bruised telecommunications world will be examined in a new round of U. S. Senate Commerce hearings beginning Tuesday. The hearings will examine the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz), who has often voiced his opinion that he believes the 1996 Act is overly regulatory, will chair the hearings. The polarization of the industry will be personified by the appearance of executives from a long distance provider and a regional telephone company. AT&T's chief executive David Dorman, will represent long distance interests and Richard Notebaert, chief executive of Qwest Communications International Inc., heads up a regional phone company.

Their session is entitled "Lessons Learned from the Telecommunications act of 1996." Long distance providers have generally been battling with the regional phone companies over access fee charges -- long distance firms must pay a fee to gain access to the regional companies 'subscriber networks.

Another speaker scheduled to make a presentation at Tuesday's hearing is James Geiger of Cbeyond, which addresses the small business VoIP market.