NEWS                                         June 28, 1996

FCC CHAIRMAN HUNDT SPEECH TO INET '96 CONFERENCE
A+B = C; Access + Bandwidth = Communications Revolution

     In a speech prepared for delivery to the Inet '96 Conference, FCC
Chairman Hundt today said, "We shouldn't be looking for ways to
subject new technologies to old rules.  Instead, we should be trying to
fix the old rules so that if those new technologies really are better, they
will flourish in the marketplace."  Hundt said the main goals of the FCC
should be bandwidth and access.  Competition should generate
bandwidth; access must be achieved by competition plus a commitment
to universal service.

     Hundt called the Telecommunications Act of 1996 the "Bandwidth
Act of 1996." And he challenged the Internet community to provide two
years of free Internet access to classrooms and libraries.

     In the speech-- which Hundt called a virtual speech because he
asked FCC Chief of Staff Blair Levin to travel to Montreal to deliver it
for him -- Hundt responded to a petition from the America's Carriers'
Telecommunications Association asking the FCC to restrict the sale of
"Internet phone" software, saying, "I am ...strongly inclined to believe
that the right answer at this time is not to place restrictions on
software providers, or to subject Internet telephony to the same rules
that apply to conventional circuit-switched voice carriers.
 
     Hundt also spoke positively about the existing FCC policy that
states that enhanced service providers, which include Internet service
providers, should not be subject to the interstate access charges that
long-distance carriers pay to local phone companies for originating and
terminating calls.  Hundt said, "I don't know what the full answer is to
this problem.  But I'm inclined to believe our best guidance is to let
technology, competition, and access reform make the problem go away. 
We are working to open markets so that these forces can operate most
effectively."

     Hundt also recognized that "the growth of the Internet provides
new ways to bring all children and all Americans into the information
age" and said that "ensuring that schools, libraries, health care
providers, and poor, rural, and insular communities benefit from the
Internet and the new communications revolution it represents is one of
the great challenges of the beginning of the twenty-first century."

     A full text of this speech is available at http://www.fcc.gov

  -FCC-