February 11, 1999 Web posted at: 4:13 p.m. EST (2113 GMT) by Nancy Weil

From...

(IDG) -- A U.S. Senate subcommittee will hear testimony in two weeks on the status of the U.S. Telecommunications Act, which was enacted three years ago.

The act, which continues to provoke controversy, will be reviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights and Competition. The hearing will take place Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington.

According to a listing from Senator Mike DeWine, the subcommittee chairman, the tentative roster of witnesses so far includes Reed Hundt, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC); William Kennard, current FCC chairman; Joel Klein, assistant attorney general and head of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division; and Larry Pressler, a former Republican senator from South Dakota.

The 1996 act was intended, in part, to create more competition in U.S. telecommunications. Recent telecommunications mergers have, however, led some critics to charge that the opposite is occurring with fewer, but larger, companies invading the market. The FCC and the Department of Justice both are required to approve such mergers.

Some congressional observers have said that the act will be targeted this year by various legislators who are urging for changes in the law. The FCC itself also is expected to be scrutinized by some legislators this current congressional session.

The U.S. Senate, in Washington, can be reached at www.senate.gov. Links to committee and subcommittee Internet sites are available on that home page.

Nancy Weil is a correspondent in the Boston bureau of the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld affiliate.