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THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION'S
OPEN PLATFORM PROPOSAL
(Version 4 / June 1992)
I. Introduction
Until now the nation's telecommunications policy debate has largely been
perceived as a struggle among entrenched commercial interests over who
will control and dominate markets such as information services,
manufacturing, and long distance service. We believe it is time to
refocus the debate by seeking near-term technological, economic,
legislative and regulatory solutions which will encourage the rapid
development of a diverse information services market and help realize
the democratic potential of new information media.
In the Fall of 1991, the Electronic Frontier Foundation was invited by
Representative Edward Markey to testify before the House Subcommittee on
Telecommunications and Finance on the subject of Bell company entry into
the information services market. To address concerns that Bell entry
into this market would reduce the diversity of information through
anti-competitive behavior, EFF proposed the rapid deployment of a
digital information platform, using existing technology and facilities,
which could be made available to all on a ubiquitous, affordable,
equitable basis. Our testimony suggested that narrowband Integrated
Services Digital Network (ISDN) could be such a platform.
Narrowband ISDN, if offered nation-wide, and tariffed at affordable,
mass- market rates, can offer end-to-end digital service without major
infrastructure investments. This narrowband technology can also serve as
a transitional telecommunications platform until national switched
broadband access options become available early in the 21st century.
With an ISDN platform in place, information entrepreneurs will soon be
able to reach an expanded market in which to offer text, video, and
interactive multimedia services. Public agencies, private
communications, computer, and publishing firms, and even individuals
will be able to access an inexpensive, widely available medium in which
to publish and communicate electronically. Other technologies from
outside the public telephone network may also come to play an important
role in providing digital access, but because of the importance of the
public switched telephone network, ISDN has a key role to play.
EFF believes that ISDN deployment and other developments in the public
telecommunications infrastructure should proceed with the following
goals in mind:
# make end-to-end digital service widely available at
affordable rates;
# promote First Amendment free expression by
reaffirming the principles of common carriage;
# ensure competition in local exchange services;
# foster innovations that make networks and
information services easy to use;
# protect personal privacy; and
# preserve and enhance equitable access to
communications media for all segments of society.
A robust, open telecommunications infrastructure is certainly important
for the international competitiveness and economic health of our nation.
But also, as people become more dependent on telecommunications services
in their daily lives, the character of the evolving infrastructure and
the laws which govern its operation will come to have a profound impact
on politics, culture, education, and entertainment. Therefore, the steps
that we take at this critical moment in the development of
telecommunications technologies must be carefully considered.
II. Feasibility and Benefits of Rapid Deployment of ISDN
ISDN is a platform which could stimulate innovation in information
services in a way that will benefit much of the American public that
currently has no access to electronic information services. Lessons from
the personal computer industry can help guide telecommunications policy
makers in the development of an information infrastructure. The desktop
personal computer represented a revolutionary platform for innovation of
the 1980's because it was affordable, and was designed according to the
principle of open architecture, allowing numerous hardware and software
entrepreneurs to enter the computer industry.
To bring the benefits of the information age to the American public in
the 1990's, we need to build an open, ubiquitous digital communications
platform for information services. Just as the personal computer brought
access to computing power beyond large organizations, widely available
ISDN can enable the citizen's access into the Information Age.
A. What is ISDN?
ISDN (Integrated Digital Services Network) is a technology designed for
the public switched telephone network which allows low-cost
communication in data, voice, video, and graphic media over the existing
copper telephone network. ISDN is not an information service, but a
transmission medium -- a platform -- for delivering and receiving
information in a variety of formats. Crude data communication is
possible over standard analog telephone lines now, but the fact that the
existing transmission system was designed for voice, not for data, means
that transmission rates are very slow, error rates are high, and
equipment (modems) are difficult to use. Basic Rate ISDN offers
transmission speeds fifteen to sixty times faster than most data
transmission schemes now used on voice grade lines. More the just the
increased speed, what is important about ISDN is that it offers the
minimum capacity necessary to carry full multi-media -- voice, text,
image, and video -- transmissions.
ISDN is not a "field of dreams" technology. It is a fully-developed
international standard that has been extensively tested in the United
States and has already been implemented in the public switched telephone
networks of other countries. Real applications have been demonstrated
over ISDN lines. Major communications carriers have field-tested
distance learning applications which allow students in classrooms all
across a city to participate in multimedia presentations run by a
teacher in a remote location. Inexpensive desktop and home video
conferencing systems are now being introduced which run over ISDN lines.
These applications have real value, but are only a small sample of what
entrepreneurs will inevitably produce if ISDN were widely available.
Yet, the promise of this service can only be realized if the local phone
companies tariff and deploy the service.
B. Prospects for Near Term ISDN Deployment
EFF's Open Platform proposal for ISDN is a work-in-progress. We have
received valuable comments and support from key players among the
Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), interexchange carriers,
information providers, and state public service commissions, all of whom
believe that ISDN can play a crucial role in developing the information
arena for the benefit of all today. To date, we have reached the
following conclusions:
1. ISDN deserves a second look because it can meet many of the information
needs of residential and commercial users long before a public, switched
broadband network will be available.
2. ISDN can be made widely available within the next three to five years,
without massive infrastructure investment or new technology development.
3. ISDN can and must be tariffed as a basic service at affordable rates.
4. ISDN is a critical and even necessary transitional technology on the path
toward the future broadband national public network.
5. The benefits of other networks that are already important information
distribution media can be enhanced by interconnection with ISDN.
More investigation of many issues is still required, especially the
regulatory economics of deployment. Still, we are optimistic that ISDN
is an important step along the path to the development of a
telecommunications infrastructure that meets the diverse needs of the
nation.
1. ISDN deserves a "second look" because it can meet many of the
information needs of both residential and commercial users long before a
broadband network could be deployed
ISDN can meet many of the critical information needs of both residential
and commercial users even without broadband capacity. ISDN is the only
switched, digital technology available today in the public switched
network that can be deployed widely in the near term. For text-based
data users and publishers, ISDN offers a dramatic advantage over data
transmission technology currently used by individuals and small
organizations. One of the two 64kbits/sec data channels available in the
ISDN Basic Rate Interface can fax 30 typewritten pages of text in one
minute, and send a 1000-word newspaper article in less than one second.
Dramatic advances in video compression make transmission of
videoconference images possible today, and all indications are that new
compression algorithms will allow real-time transmission of VCR-quality
video images in the near future. The Massachusetts Department of Public
Utilities found, in the course of its recent investigation of ISDN, that
"residential customers will benefit from the availability of significant
enhancements to services such as home banking, library access, work at
home, home health care monitoring, home shopping, and information
access."1
Some telecommunications cognoscenti view the promise of narrowband ISDN
as quite limited, because they are aware that ISDN has languished
unimplemented for over ten years, and because they know that other
copper- based transmission technologies offering much higher bandwidth
are available. We are fully supportive of implementing higher capacity
narrow band and broadband networks in the future, when technology and
user demand make it possible.
The personal computer industry shows that raw power is not all that
matters in a new technology. By about 1980, corporations already had
good access to massive computational facilities at the institutional
level through their mainframes and minicomputers. But individual workers
had no effective direct access to those facilities. In practice, all the
computing power didn't directly help the white-collar worker get her job
done. Personal computers made a difference in the office and in the home
because they were directly under the control of the individual, despite
the fact that they were anemically under- powered. Similarly, there may
be high data capacity at the institutional data network level already,
but if individuals and small organizations can't connect with it, its
value is limited. We must make tapping into the digital, switched
network as easy as ordering a phone line for a fax. Just as PCs enhanced
individual productivity, ISDN can enhance individual connectivity.
In this regard, we are encouraged by the fact that the computer industry
has recently joined the debate on telecommunication infrastructure. With
the growing recognition that the hardware and software they design will
be severely limited by the lack of a nation- wide switched, digital
communications infrastructure, key players in the computer industry have
lent their support to EFF's Open Platform Proposal as a transitional
infrastructure strategy.
2. ISDN can be made widely available in the near future without massive
new infrastructure investment or new technology development
In sharp contrast to fiber optic-based broadband technologies, only
modest infrastructure investment is required. Digital central office
switches are required for ISDN2, but with the Bell companies aggressive
deployment of a fully-digital switching and signaling system (Signaling
System Seven), the bulk of the infrastructure necessary to support ISDN
is already installed or planned.3 Some Bell companies such as Bell
Atlantic and Ameritech plan to have over 70% of their subscriber lines
ISDN-ready by the end of 1994. Other companies, however, project
deployment rates as low as 21%. On a national level, 56% of all lines
are expected to be capable of carrying ISDN calls by 1994.4 (See
Appendix A)
Many segments of the telecommunications industry are engaged in a
concerted effort to make nation-wide ISDN deployment a reality. Problems
that haunted ISDN in the past, such as lack of standard hardware and
software protocols and corresponding gaps in interoperability, are being
addressed by National ISDN-1. This a joint effort by Bell companies,
interexchange carriers, and switch manufactures, and Bellcore, is
solving major outstanding standards problems. By the end of 1992, a
single hardware
standard will make ISDN central office switches and customer premises
equipment interoperable, regardless of which vendor made the equipment.
Following National ISDN- 1, National ISDN-2 will address standards
problems associated with ISDN Primary Rate Interface (PRI), a switched
1.5Mbit/sec service with 23 separate 64kbit/sec data channels and one
64kbit/sec signaling channel.
Led by Bellcore, the communications industry has a nationwide
demonstration of real, off-the-shelf, ISDN services planned for November
1992, called TRIP'92. A variety of local and national ISDN services will
be demonstrated on a working ISDN network covering twenty cities around
the country. TRIP'92 will show that Bell companies, long distance
carriers, and information providers can work together to provide the
kind of ubiquitous, standards-based service that is critical to the
overall success of ISDN.
Additional interconnection problems do remain to be solved before ISDN
is truly ubiquitous. Among other things, business arrangements between
local Bell companies and interexchange carriers must be finalized before
ISDN calls can be passed seamlessly from the local exchange to long
distance networks.
3. ISDN can and must be tariffed as a basic service at affordable,
mass-market rates
If ISDN is to be a platform that spurs growth and innovation in the
information services market, it must be priced affordably for the
average home and small business user. Here, the telephone industry has a
valuable lesson to learn from the computer industry. The most valuable
contribution of the computer industry in the past generation is not a
machine, but an idea--the principle of open architecture. Typically, a
hardware company (an Apple or IBM, for instance) neither designs its own
applications software nor requires licenses of its application vendors.
Both practices were the norm in the mainframe era of computing. Instead,
in the personal computer market, the hardware company creates a
"platform"--a common set of specifications, published openly so that
other, often smaller, independent firms can develop their own products
(like the spreadsheet program) to work with it. In this way, the host
company takes advantage of the smaller companies' ingenuity and
creativity.
Platform services, even if they are ubiquitous, are useless unless they
are also affordable to American consumers. Just as the voice telephone
network would be of little value if only a small fraction of the country
could afford to have a telephone in their home, a national information
platform will only achieve its full potential when a large majority of
Americans can buy access to it. Therefore, the tariffs adopted by state
public utility commissions are critical to the success or failure of
ISDN.
Since few states have adopted single-line business and residential ISDN
tariffs, there is a window of opportunity to establish pricing
principles for ISDN which make it viable as a mass-market service. The
Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) recently completed
proceeding should serve as a valuable example to other states. The
Massachusetts regulators found that ISDN is a "monopoly, basic service
that has a potentially far- reaching and significant role in the
telecommunications infrastructure of the Commonwealth."5 The DPU also
recognized that the "risks of pricing the service too high are of much
greater concern... [because] high rates could discourage the development
of new ISDN-dependent technologies and their applications."6 The final
tariff approved has a monthly access charge of $13.00 for single line
residential service and usage sensitive fees of 2.6 cents for the first
minute and 1.6 cents for each additional minute. After much dispute, New
England Telephone (NET) based the usage sensitive component of the
tariff on measured voice rates already in place in Massachusetts. We
believe that NET's decision to link prices to existing basic voice rates
is an important signal to other LECs and other state commissions that
low-priced ISDN service is indeed possible.
Studies by experts in the field of regulatory economics indicate that
ISDN can be priced affordably. Dr. Lee Selwyn found, based on data from
the Massachusetts proceeding, that the average monthly price for ISDN
service should be approximately $10.7 An analysis of ISDN deployment by
a leading consumer advocate also indicates that ISDN can be offered at a
relatively low cost to consumers. Dr. Mark Cooper, Research Director of
the Consumer Federation of America, found that average ISDN monthly
costs are now at roughly $7.50, and can be expected to decline to $4.50
in the near future.8
To encourage widespread use of ISDN, it must be priced at or near the
price levels already in place for basic voice services. ISDN line
charges will be somewhat higher than analog voice services because there
are some additional one-time capital costs associated with offering ISDN
service, but basing prices on voice telephone rates is possible and
rational from a regulatory standpoint.
The digital switches which carry ISDN calls treat voice and data calls
in exactly the same manner. A five minute data call uses no more or less
switching resources than a five minute voice call, so their pricing
should be equivalent. Some states may chose to tariff ISDN only with
measured (usage sensitive) rates, while others may also want to adopt a
flat rate scheme similar to that which exists for residential voice
services. The economics of this issue need more study, but we believe
that both options have arguments in their favor.9
Current prices for ISDN telephones, data links, and in-home network
terminators are high. An ISDN telephone with voice and data interfaces
costs roughly $1000. If these price levels persist, many small scale
users will never enter the market. However, with increased demand, ISDN
terminal appliance prices can be expected to follow the steep downward
curve of VCRs and PCs prices. When first introduced, VCRs cost well over
$1000, but now sell below $200 for a basic unit.
Ill-considered pricing policy could, alone, cripple ISDN's chances for
success. We are hopeful that Bell companies with more aggressive
deployment plans will file such residential tariffs and set a precedent
for progressive, mass-market pricing that will make ISDN affordable. In
any event, legislative or regulatory action may be necessary to guaranty
affordable rates and widespread availability of ISDN around the country.
4. ISDN is a critical transitional technology on the road to a nation-wide
public broadband network
ISDN is not a permanent substitute for a broadband network, but it is a
necessary transitional technology on the way to public switched
broadband networking. Though some might like to leap directly to a
broadband network, the entire telecommunications and information
industry still has much to learn about designing a broadband digital
network before it can be implemented.10 Though a first generation of
broadband switches are now being introduced, many basic questions still
remain about the most appropriate design for a broadband network that
can replace or be built on top of the analog telephone network. These
questions are impossible to answer without experience in the ways that
people will use a public, digital switched network.
Some are reluctant to make any investment in ISDN because it is
perceived as old technology. But this is not an either/or choice If
implemented at prices that encourage diverse usage, ISDN will provide
important new services to all segments of society, and offer vital
perspectives on how to design the next generation of public, switched
broadband networks.
5. The benefits of other networks that are already important information
distribution media can be enhanced by interconnection with ISDN
The public switched telephone network is a critical, central part of the
nation's telecommunications infrastructure, so ISDN has a vital role to
play in the overall information infrastructure. In addition to being an
information platform itself, ISDN can interconnect with other networks
that offer a variety of information resources. Cable television systems,
which already provide broadband connections to 60% of U.S. homes and
pass by 90%, might evolve to provide a new digital data service. Using
ISDN, cable systems could develop interactive video applications. The
Internet, an international packet network that serves universities,
government organizations, and an increasing number of commercial
enterprise, has over two million users and access to vast archives of
information. Wireless transmission systems such as PCS (Personal
Communications Systems) could also serve as open platforms for
information services.
III. Guiding Communications Policy Principles
The public switched telephone network is just one part of what we call
the National Public Network, a vibrant web of information links that
will come to serve as the main channels for commerce learning,
education, politics, social welfare, and entertainment in the future.
With or without ISDN, the telephone network is undergoing dramatic
changes in structure, scope, and in its growing interrelationship with
other communications media. These changes should be guided by a public
policy vision based on the following principles.
A. Create an Open Platform for Innovation in Information Services by
Speedily Deploying a Nation-wide, Affordable ISDN
To achieve the information diversity currently available in print and
broadcast media in the new digital forum, we must guaranty widespread
accessibility to a platform of basic services necessary for creating
information services of all kinds. Such a platform offers the dual
benefit of helping to creating a level playing field for competition in
the information services market, and stimulating the development of new
services beneficial to consumers. An open platform for information
services will enable individuals and small organizations, as well as
established information distributors, to be electronic publishers on a
local, national, and international level.
B. Promote First Amendment Free Expression by Affirming the Principles of
Common Carriage
In a society which relies more and more on electronic communications
media as its primary conduit for expression, full support for First
Amendment values requires extension of the common carrier principle to
all of these new media. Common carriers are companies which provide
conduit services for the general public. The common carrier's duties
have evolved over hundreds of years in the common law and later in
statutory provisions.
The rules governing their conduct can be roughly distilled in a few basic
principles. Common carriers have a duty to:
# provide services in a non-discriminatory manner at a fair price,
# interconnect with other carriers, and
# provide adequate services.
The public must have access to digital data transport services, such as
ISDN, which are regulated by the principles of common carriage.
Unlike arrangements found in many countries, our communications
infrastructure is owned by private corporations instead of by the
government. Therefore, a legislatively imposed expanded duty of common
carriage on public switched telephone carriers is necessary to protect
free expression effectively. A telecommunications provider under a
common carrier obligation would have to carry any legal message
regardless of its content whether it is voice, data, images, or sound.
For example, if full common- carrier protections were in place for all
of the conduit services offered by the phone company, the terminations
of "controversial" 900 services such as political fundraising would not
be allowed, just as the phone company is now prohibited by the
Communications Act from discriminating in the provision of basic voice
telephone services. As a matter of law and policy, the common carriage
protections should be extended from basic voice service to cover basic
data service as well.
C. Ensure Competition in Local Exchange Services
The divestiture of AT&T in the early 1980s brought with it various
restrictions on the kinds of markets in which the newly created local
Bell companies were allowed to compete. Many consumer and industry
groups are now concerned that as these judicially-imposed restrictions
are lifted (know as the MFJ), the Bell companies will come to dominate
the design of the emerging National Public Network, shaping it more to
accommodate their business goals than the public interest. The
bottleneck that Bell companies have on local exchange services critical
to information providers can be minimized by unbundling these services
and allowing non-Bell company providers to offer them in competition
with Bell companies.
The post-divestiture pattern of providing long distance service offers
us a valuable lesson: a telecommunications network can be managed
effectively by separate companies--even including bitter opponents like
AT&T and MCI--as long as they can connect equitably and seamlessly from
the user's standpoint. Together with the open platform offered by ISDN,
unbundling and expanded competition is a key to ensuring equitable
access to Bell company facilities needed for information service
delivery.
D. Protect Personal Privacy
As the telecommunications infrastructure evolves, there are increasing
threats to both communications privacy and information privacy. Strong
government intervention will, at times, be necessary to protect people's
constitutional right to privacy. Careful thought must also be given to
the appropriate use of search warrants and wiretap authorizations in the
realm of new electronic media. While new technologies may pose some
difficult challenges to law enforcement, we must protect people's
constitutionally- guaranteed right to be free from "unreasonable
searches and seizures." Fundamental civil liberties tenets are at stake
as long-standing constitutional doctrine is applied to new technologies.
The privacy of telephone conversations and electronic mail is already
protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. However,
communications in other media, such a cellular phone conversations, can
be intercepted using readily available technology by private third
parties without the knowledge or consent of the conversants. In addition
to this, however, we believe that technological advances should be used
to help people protect their own privacy and exercise more control over
information about themselves. In general, citizens should be given
greater control over information collected, stored, and disseminated by
telephone companies and information providers. As the public outcry over
Caller ID demonstrates, citizens want and deserve to have adequate
notice about what information is being collected and disseminated by
communications firms and must be able to exercise informed consent
before information collected for one purpose can be used for any other
purpose.
E. Make the Network Simple to Use
One of the great virtues of today's public switched telephone network,
from a user's perspective, is that it operates according to patterns and
principles that are now intuitively obvious to almost everyone. As this
network grows beyond just voice services, information services that
become part of this network should reflect this same ease- of-use and
accessibility. The development of such standards and patterns for
information services is vital, not just because it helps makes the
network easier to use, but also because it ensures an open platform for
information providers. However, standards development will be ad hoc and
even chaotic at first. Numerous standards may be tried and found
inadequate by users before a mature set of standards emerges. Congress
and government regulatory bodies may need to set out the ground rules
for standards planning in order to ensure that all interested parties
have an equal voice, and the resulting standards should be closely
analyzed to make sure that they reflect public needs. But, direct
government involvement in the process should be avoided if possible.
F. Preserve and Enhance Socially Equitable Access to Communications Media
The principle of equitable access to basic services is an integral part
of nation's public switched telephone network. From the early history of
the telephone network, both government and commercial actors have taken
steps to ensure that access to basic voice telephone services is
affordable and accessible to all segments of society. Since the
divestiture of AT&T, many of the constituent parts of the "social
contract" for universal service have fallen away. Re- creation of old
patterns of subsidy may no longer be possible nor necessarily desirable,
but serious thought must be given to sources of funds that will guaranty
that the economically disadvantaged will still have access to basic
communications services.
The universal service guaranty in the Communications Act of 193411 has,
until now, been interpreted to mean access to "plain old telephone
service" (POTS). In the information age, we must extend this guaranty to
include "plain old digital service." Extending this guaranty means
ensuring that new basic digital services are affordable and ubiquitously
available. Equity and the democratic imperative also demand that these
services meet the needs of people with disabilities, the elderly, and
other groups with special needs.
Failure to do so is sure to create a society of "information haves and
havenots."12
IV. Conclusion
The path toward ISDN deployment requires that cooperation of numerous
public and private sector organizations and political constituencies.
National policy direction is needed to ensure that the necessary
ubiquity and interconnection of service providers is achieved. Federal
policy makers in Congress and the Federal Communications Commission will
also have to consider the appropriate regulatory role for guidance of a
new national resource: the information infrastructure. State public
service commissions will be at the forefront of establishing pricing
policy for ISDN service. The success of residential applications for
ISDN will depend heavily on the PUCs' approach to ISDN pricing.
The communications industry -- including the Bell Companies, the
interexchange carriers, equipment manufacturers -- all have cooperative
roles to play in making ubiquitous ISDN a reality. The computer industry
is a new, but critical player in telecommunications policy. Many of the
innovative products and services to take advantage of ISDN will likely
come from the computer community.
In the policy arena and in relations with industry, many public interest
advocacy organizations have a vital role to play in ensuring that new
technologies are implemented and regulated in a way that promotes wide-
spread access to new media and preserves the fundamental guarantees of
affordable, universal service.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is working to solicit comments,
support, and criticism from all of these constituencies. This version of
the Open Platform Proposal has been much improved with the help thoughts
and reactions from many concerned parties. We welcome more comments from
all who are concerned about the development of the telecommunications
infrastructure.
For More Information Please Contact:
Mitchell Kapor Daniel J. Weitzner
President Communications Policy Analyst
Electronic Frontier Foundation Electronic Frontier Foundation
155 Second St. 666 Pennsylvania Ave, SE
Cambridge, MA 02141 Washington, DC 20003
617-864-0665 202-544-9237
mkapor@eff.org djw@eff.org
Appendix A: ISDN Deployment Data
Regional Bell Operating Company ISDN Deployment Plans Through 1994
(Numbers in Thousands)
Regional Bell
Operating Co. Total Lines | Lines Access ISDN %
w/ ISDN access
Ameritech 16,410 11,400 70%
Bell Atlantic 18,600 16,200 87%
BellSouth 20,000 10,500 52%
NYNEX 16,360 5,100 31%
Pac Telesis 15,900 10,900 69%
SW Bell 13,600 2,900 21%
US West 14,100 8,300 59%
TOTAL 114,970 65,300 56%
Source: Bellcore Report SR-NWT-002102, ISDN Deployment Data, Issue 2,
June 1992.
Note: This table does not include deployment data for independent
telephone companies.
NOTES
1 Mass. D.P.U. 91-63-B, p. 86-7. See Appendix B for an overview of the
Massachusetts proceeding.
2 In central offices where digital switches have not yet been installed,
ISDN can still be provided at lower cost than by installation of special
"switch adjuncts."
3 Though the Bell companies are not required to install Signaling System
Seven, it is the only practical way that they can meet new FCC
requirements for 800 number portability. See Memorandum Opinion and
Order on Reconsideration and Second Supplemental Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking, FCC Docket 86-10, Released September 4, 1991.
4 See FCC Docket 89-624 and Bellcore Special Report SR_NWT-002102, ISDN
Deployment Data, Issue 2, June 1992.
5 ISDN Basic Service, Mass. D.P.U. 91-63-B, p. 34 (February 7, 1992).
6 Id. at 86.
7 L. Selwyn, A Migration Plan For Residential ISDN Deployment, April 20,
1992 (Prepared for the Communications Policy Forum and the Electronic
Frontier Foundation).
8 M. Cooper, Developing the Information Age in the 1990s: A Pragmatic
Consumer View, June 8, 1992. See p. 52.
9 Since the average length of a data call may be longer than the average
voice call, the flat rate for ISDN would have to be adjusted upward to
reflect added load on central office switching systems. However, the
mere fact that data lines may remain open longer does not preclude a
flat rate, non-usage- sensitive tariff.
10 The most optimistic BOC estimates on fiber deployment promise
ubiquitous fiber optic cable in roughly 20 years.
11 47 USC 151, et seq.
12 Modified Final Judgment: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on
Telecommunications and Finance of the House Committee on Energy and
Commerce, 101st Cong., 1st Sess. 2 (1989) (Opening Statement of Chairman
Markey). Chairman Markey set the following goal for the development of
new information services: to make [information services] available
swiftly to the largest number of Americans at costs which don't divide
the society into information haves and have nots and in a manner which
does not compromise our adherence to the long-cherished principles of
diversity, competition and common carriage.