Ahead of the Bell: Telecom hearing

The House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet will examine how well existing government regulation of the sector is working.

The hearing will focus in part on "forbearance" applications by telecom companies seeking relief from various federal rules, such as cost-reporting requirements and "line-sharing" obligations that require incumbent phone companies to lease access to their monopoly networks to competitors at affordable rates.

Committee leaders are particularly concerned about a provision in the law that automatically grants a forbearance petition if the Federal Communications Commission does not act on such a submission within 15 months. Reps. John Dingell, D-Mich., and Edward Markey, D-Mass., chairs of the committee and subcommittee respectively, have introduced legislation that would require the FCC to grant or deny such applications within one year.

The hearing also will examine other regulations intended to drive competition for telecommunications services, including "portability" rules that allow consumers to keep their phone numbers when switching carriers. In addition, the panel will look at retention marketing practices used by companies to win back customers who switch carriers.

Among those scheduled to testify are: Cathy Avgiris, senior vice president and general manager of Comcast's voice services; executives from corporate telecommunications and networking services providers TW Telecom Inc. and XO Communications; as well as officials from the United States Telecom Association, which represents the Bell phone companies, and Comptel, which represents smaller competitive carriers.