Telecom regulations - Reuters coverage

["E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>]

	Of course, the Demopublicans want to subsidize access for their voters.
Those already on the net have a considerably higher likelihood, so far as I can
tell, of being Independents or Libertarians. The bad guys naturally want to
bring it in line with their domination.
	-Allen

>   _ Tuesday July 16 1:52 PM EDT _
   
>FCC Chairman Hundt Sees Tax On Telecom Industry

>   FAJARDO, Puerto Rico - A small tax will probably be imposed on
>   telecommunications companies' revenues to subsidize telephone access
>   in rural areas and help wire classrooms for the Internet, Federal
>   Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt told the nation's
>   governors.

[...]

>   But ensuring that residents in sparsely populated areas have access at
>   affordable rates and meeting the administration's goal of wiring every
>   classroom in the nation for Internet access will require annual
>   subsidies of about $10 billion, Hundt said.
   
>   "The current subsidy system won't work and has to be totally
>   overhauled," he said.
   
>   Asked how that money would be raised, Hundt said, "Probably the
>   right way to go is, based on total revenues, throw a chunk of change
>   into the pot."
   
>   He said the levy would be "competitively neutral" and would
>   represent a small percentage of revenues for the telecommunications
>   industry, whose annual gross revenues are about $250 billion.
   
[...]

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