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 NEWS  News  media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  TTY  202  /  418-  2555  Fax-  On-  Demand  202  /  418-  2830  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  ftp.  fcc.  gov  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974). 
 FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE:  News  Media  contact:  February  20,  2003  Jordan  Goldstein  at  (202)  418-  2000 
 COMMISSIONER  MICHAEL  J.  COPPS:  FCC  DECISION  “PRESERVES  COMPETITIVE  TOOLS”  BUT 
 “ENDANGERS  BROADBAND  CONSUMERS  AND  COMPETITION” 
 FCC  Commissioner  Michael  J.  Copps  stated  today  that  through  the  Commission’s  Triennial  Review  decision:  “We  preserve  voice  competition  in  the  local  markets  and  we 
 give  competitors  the  tools  to  grow.  We  accord  the  states  an  enhanced  role  in  making  the  granular  determinations  about  where  the  rules  of  the  game  may  need  to  be  changed  and 
 where  they  should  be  maintained  in  order  to  foster  competition.  One  month  ago,  these  gains  were  not  expected.” 


 At  the  same  time,  Copps  expressed  disappointment  with  the  Commission’s  treatment  of  broadband  services.  “We  are  playing  fast  and  loose  with  the  country’s 
 broadband  future”  Copps  stated.  “Today  we  may  be  choking  off  competition  in  broadband.  Consumers  and  the  Internet  itself  may  well  suffer.” 


 Commissioner  Copps  agreed  to  the  parts  of  the  Order  that  protected  competition,  but  concurred  with  or  dissented  from  other  sections  that  undermined  Congress’s  vision 
 for  local  competition. 
 Copps  continued:  “It  is  no  secret  that  some  parties  urged  us  to  go  much  further  today  toward  a  wholesale  upending  of  the  current  telecommunications  landscape  just 
 when  competition  was  beginning  to  take  hold.  Instead  of  preserving,  protecting  and  defending  competition,  the  idea  seemed  to  be  to  tear  away  the  infrastructure  that 
 undergirds  that  competition.  Today’s  decision  is  not  just  a  big-  ticket  item  for  telephone  companies  on  one  side  or  another  of  some  admittedly  arcane  issues.  It  affects  us  all.  It 
 will  determine  the  size  of  your  phone  bill.  It  will  support  or  undermine  the  future  of  broadband  and  the  Internet.  It  will  deeply  affect  our  country’s  future.  We’ve  got  to  make 
 good,  smart  decisions.  On  broadband,  at  least,  we  haven’t  done  this.” 
 Today’s  Order  concerns  the  rules  Congress  instructed  the  FCC  to  create  to  develop  local  competition  for  telecommunications  services,  as  part  of  the 
 Telecommunications  Act  of  1996.  Local  competition  benefits  customers  through  lower  prices,  greater  innovation,  and  improved  service  quality. 


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