The Senator at the Center
Telecom reform is on tap in the nation’s capital, and Senator Ted Stevens discusses where wireless fits into the picture.
As Congress reviews our nation's telecommunications laws, a top priority for the wireless industry is to establish a clearly defined, consistent, national regulatory framework for wireless service. As Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Science, Commerce, and committees, including the Senate Committee on Homeland Security Transportation, Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is one of the more influential voices in shap and Governmental Affairs and the ing the future of the wireless industry. Wireless Wave recently asked Senator Stevens for his Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. opinions on how wireless factors into the telecom discussion.
1. How do you see your role in developing the telecommunications policy of the
country?
First, I like to say “communications,” not telecommunications, because of the
broad range of industries and technologies that are at issue. The Senate
Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over a broad range of communications
issues, from phone companies to cable, from wireless phone providers to
satellite. Our committee has now held about two dozen hearings on
communications issues including a number of wireless issues. Steve Largent has
appeared before our committee to present testimony on wireless issues on a
number of occasions, as well as to present the wireless perspective on broader
communications issues, like Internet neutrality. Late last year, we held a series
of hearings on communications during a disaster, and are addressing a number
of issues raised by the wireless industry in the bill we just introduced, S. 2686.
Together with my co-chairman, Senator Inouye, we are working with our
colleagues on the committee to pass legislation through the committee that will
be taken up by the Senate and the House.
2. With regard to the big picture in communications, as you prefer to call it, where do
you believe wireless fits in and what kind of attention do you think it deserves?
Wireless is one of the fastest growing segments in the communications industry
today. It is very important to rural areas given the great expense to wire vast
areas. Wireless communications deserve special attention, and in fact the first
communications bill this committee reported after I became Chairman, the DTV
bill, authorized a spectrum auction for the wireless industry. We set a hard date
for the digital TV transition for February 2009 to enable 700 MHz suitable for new
broadband services to be deployed.
3. When you first became a senator, the cellular industry didn’t even exist, and now
there are more than 210 million subscribers. What are your thoughts about that
extraordinary growth and how it happened?
It is amazing. People have come to want the flexibility that mobile services offer.
Now consumers expect to be able to stay in touch even if they are outside of
their homes or away from the office. Mobile phones allow people to call for help
from wherever they are — even from the depths of a crevasse in the nation’s
highest mountain (Mt. McKinley, Denali National Park and Reserve, Alaska).
