In light of the 20th anniversary Jan. 1 of the AT&T breakup, tele...

Simon said the Bell system breakup “got it wrong. We broke up the telephone company into the wrong parts -- local on one end, long distance and equipment on the other.” He said a lesson to learn from the last 20 years was that “the government needs to get out of the business of micromanagement of telecommunications regulation.” He said the focus should be on setting broad national policies that encouraged investment and deployment of new services and “to then keep a watchful eye out for possible abuses. I believe that we would have seen some of the most powerful technologies of the last 20 years -- such as wireless and high-speed broadband -- emerge even faster if the market had been calling the shots instead of regulators and lawmakers protecting special interests.” In a separate statement, USTA Pres. Walter McCormick said with competition being “on a far grander scale than ever could have been envisioned in 1984,” it’s “time for a new communications policy that empowers consumers to determine market winners, rather than regulators.” He urged the govt. to “end telecom’s status as virtually the last major U.S. industry not permitted to fully participate in the nation’s free-market economy… and pass the reins to consumers.” Meanwhile, Teletruth provided “29 reasons to not celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Baby Bells” -- www.newnetworks.com/TelecomRiotActof2004.htm. It said customers were disconnected by the Bell monopolies that controlled the wires and it was “now clear that America put its trust in companies who essentially allowed corporate greed to overtake the public interest.”