telecom_fu_2.html
Andrew Geoghegan (mailto:geoghega@NETAXS.COM)
Sat, 13 Jun 1998 12:25:38 -0400
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Date: Sat, 13 Jun 1998 12:25:38 -0400
From: Andrew Geoghegan <mailto:geoghega@NETAXS.COM>
Subject: telecom_fu_2.html
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>Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 22:18:42 -0400 (EDT)
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> Thursday June 11, 9:34 pm Eastern Time
>
>Futurist blames U.S. govt for phone market inertia
>
> By Tony Heffernan
>
> ATLANTA, June 11 (Reuters) - Futurist George Gilder blasted the
> federal government Thursday for striving to create a level playing
> field in its bid to deregulate local phone service.
>
> ``There has never been a level playing field in the history of
> capitalism,'' Gilder said in a speech to telecommunications executives
> attending Supercomm, an industry trade show.
>
> He said local monopoly companies, particularly regional Bell
> companies, ``ought to be allowed to exploit themselves.''
>
> Congress in 1996 passed the Telecommunications Act, which sought to
> spur competition at the local calling level by allowing monopolies to
> enter the long distance business and long distance carriers to invade
> local markets.
>
> So far that has not happened because the Federal Communications
> Commission has ruled local telephone companies have failed to open
> their territories to competitors.
>
> Gilder blasted the local monopolies for not upgrading their
> connections to customers and for sticking with copper cable instead of
> installing high-tech fiber optic cables to give customers faster
> ability to surf the Internet.
>
> ``Ultimately they've got to rebuild their networks,'' said Gilder,
> author of nine books including the best-selling ``Wealth and
> Poverty.'' He is also a senior fellow at Seattle-based Discovery
> Institute, a think tank.
>
> Gilder denounced broadcast television as a ``master-slave technology''
> that presents only limited choices. TV, he said, is ``a top-down tool
> of tyrants'' that will eventually disappear.
>
> Taking its place will be the Internet, which will bring back to the
> fore a ``book store-like culture'' because of the vast number of
> choices it offers.
>
> ``A book store offers 150,000 choices,'' Gilder said. ``You'll get
> your first choice. You don't have to settle for what happens to be on
> the counter.''
>
> E-mail has revived text as the dominant mode of communication,`` he
> said.
>
> Gilder criticized the Justice Department's anti-trust action against
> Microsoft Corp (MSFT - news). He agreed with the company's position
> that browsers are integral parts of computer operating systems.
>
> Gilder said Microsoft, now at the pinnacle of its power, ``will fall
> from its perch'' once its Windows operating system is overtaken by
> other swiftly advancing technology.
>
> The personal computer of the future, he said, ``will be in a digital,
> cellular form. It will be as portable as your watch. These small
> digital devices will not be Windows devices.''
>
> _______________________
>
> More Quotes and News: Microsoft Corp (Nasdaq:MSFT - news)
> Related News Categories: US Market News
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