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Legislative - G. Ganske Ltr50 West 13th Slxeet Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4864 1319) 589-4110 (319) 5894149 FAX July 17, 2001 VIA 1sT CLASS MAIL AND E-MAIL Rep.Ganske@mail.house.gov Congressman Greg Ganske 1108 Longworth House Office Bldg. Washington, DC 20515 Dear Congressman Ganske: I am writing on behalf of the City of Dubuque to express our deep concern with HR 1542, the "Tauzin-Dingell Internet Act". We ask that you to oppose this bill as currently written. The City of Dubuque, the Greater Dubuque Development Corporation, the Chamber of Commerce, the East Central Intergovernmental Association and other local and regional entities have for several years actively sought ways to bring competitive state-of-the-art telecommunications services to our community, including high-speed intemet access. We have pursued a number of possibilities with carriers such as US West (now Qwest), TCl/AT&T Broadband (now Mediacom), McLeodUSA, and others, and have investigated ideas for public-private collaboration to bdng much-needed communication capacity to areas Where the monopoly incumbent shows no interest in upgrading physical Plant or services, and where sole-provider pricing keeps those services out of reach of smaller businesses and residential customers. We can assure you from direct experience that the "digital divide" is very real in Iowa, and provisions of HR 1542 if enacted would greatly hamper our ability to bdng new players into the local telecommunications market and, subsequently, to attract new businesses and to grow existing ones, Specifically, HR1542 would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from requiring incumbent monopoly carriers (Qwest, in our case) to make their optical fiber networks available to competitive service providers for high-speed, high-capacity telecommunications services. These utilities and common carriers, who once provided universal service at regulated rates in exchange for protected monopoly status and free use of public property are now becoming deregulated, and with the passage of HR 1542 Service People Integrity R~sponsibility Innova'don Congressman Greg Ganske July 17, 2001 Page 2 would further enjoy the immense benefits of that monopoly and public subsidy without the former balancing obligations to provide quality service at reasonable rates. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, and more recently the Iowa Legislature, recognize the need to stimulate competition and deliver upgraded and competitively- priced telecommunications services, including intemet access, to rural areas and smaller cities as well as to the largest metropolitan markets. Left to their own devices, the incumbent monopolies have proven unwilling to make the investment to meet these needs, and the expressed goals of Congress and the Iowa Legislature are far from being achieved. The hope of Iowa communities lies in cultivating the spark of new competition in all telecommunications technologies, perhaps including creative endeavors among public and pdvate entities. HR 1542 is the bucket of water that would drown that spark, enhance the position of the incumbent monopolies, and further delay the arrival of state-of-the art telecommunications services to Dubuque and much of the rest of Iowa. We urge you to support network expansion, technology upgrades, competitive pricing, Creative business development, and public-private collaboration for Iowa's telecommunications future. We urge you to oppose HR 1542. Sincerely, Michael C. Van Milligen City Manager MCVM:jh