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Report: Texas Statewide Franchises for Telecoms Still AliveTexas state legislator seeks to revisit telecom reform bill that died on the vine in May. By TED GLANZER TMCnet Communications and Broadband Columnist It appears that the death of the telecoms' effort to obtain Texas state-wide video franchise agreements may have been greatly exaggerated. You may recall that the Texas legislature adjourned on May 30 without taking action on a proposed bill that would have provided large telecommunication companies such as Verizon Communications, Inc. and SBC Communications Inc. with the ability to obtain single franchises that would cover the entire state. Because the bill did not become law, the telecoms, in their efforts to launch their respective IPTV services, apparently had the unenviable and lengthy task of negotiating franchise agreements with every municipality in the state. But there may yet be a glimmer of hope for the telecoms. Indeed, according to the Austin American-Statesman yesterday, a Texas lawmaker is seeking to revive the franchise bill in a 30-day special session of the legislature called by Gov. Rick Perry to resolve school budget issues. State rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford), a key backer of the first bill, is hopeful that there will be enough time to revisit the franchise agreement issue if the legislature quickly resolves school finance. “I don’t want to sound too hopeful,” King said Monday. “I think if school finance moves along, there is a good chance we can get telecom done, too.” There is at least one hurdle over which King will have to leap. Specifically, the only item on the special session’s agenda is school finance. In order for an item to be added to a special session agenda, “[T]he governor would have to issue a proclamation adding telecom reform to the agenda,” the Statesman article states. What’s the Bottom Line? There is no doubt that this is an important and interesting development if Texas’ governor puts telecom reform on the agenda. Some may claim that this whole state franchise agreement issue may be a moot point in light of the rewrite of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 currently being drafted by Sen. John Ensign. Note, however, that the rewrite would have to go through the lengthy process of being reviewed by the Technology subcommittee, the Commerce committee, the Senate and the House of Representatives (not to mention even what the new law would actually say). Should Texas telecom reform bill become law (which is certainly no slam dunk that it will even be considered by the state legislature), SBC and Verizon would have the ability to launch their IPTV solutions fairly quickly in one of the most populous states in the Union. That certainly would be a particularly sweet victor for telecoms, which have suffered nothing but a string of bad news recently. For example, In-Stat said in a press release today that telecom providers’ revenues in the U.S. are expected to fall in the next few years, with broadband services being the only bright spot. “The migration from dial-up to broadband is good news for service providers, as the monthly fees for broadband will remain substantially higher than for dial-up,” said Amy Cravens, In-Stat analyst. “With $13.7 billion in broadband revenues in 2004 versus $10.9 billion in dial-up revenues, broadband has already outpaced dial-up as a revenue-generating opportunity.” In light of In-Stat’s report, telecoms’ desire to enter the market with video services as soon a possible to open a new revenue stream. ----- Ted Glanzer is assistant editor for TMCnet. For more articles by Ted Glanzer, please visit: http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100033&nm=Ted%20Gl anzer |