Bill regulating telecoms sparks debate in House

The proposed regulatory body for the local telecommunications industry met strong opposition yesterday from some members of the House of Representatives who said that such policy would lead to more restrictions and thus hinder its growth in the Northern Marianas.

Rep. David M. Apatang, who leads the opposition, warned that enacting House Bill 12-6 or the Commonwealth Telecommunications Act will mean that the islands is “moving backwards” amid the dynamic growth of the industry worldwide.

He said that although he does not object to the creation of a local commission that will oversee the sector, it should not impose additional rules and regulations that will be too restrictive for their business operations.

“I don’t have any problem setting up a commission but I don’t want to see a bill that will block everything and create a lot of problems, like bureaucratic issues,” Mr. Apatang told reporters in an interview.

The legislator, who chaired the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications during the two previous Legislatures, sparked debate during yesterday’s special session when he questioned a report prepared by the panel now headed by Rep. Rosiky F. Camacho.

Mr. Camacho endorsed the 38-page bill for passage, noting that the CNMI has been behind already for the past four years in setting up a telecom regulatory body as sought by the federal government.

In 1997 alone, then former Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio asked the Legislature twice to consider the measure as the Federal Communications Commission had been urging the CNMI to comply with the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Then Rep. Melvin Faisao successfully sponsored a measure that cleared the lower house, but died in the Senate. In the two years that followed, he also introduced similar proposal which was not acted upon by the PUTC chaired by Mr. Apatang in 1998 and 1999.

Mr. Camacho re-introduced the same bill earlier this year and his committee conducted public hearing in which the Micronesian Telephone Corporation and Marianas Cablevision strongly opposed it.

MTC is the lone domestic phone service provider in the CNMI, while MCV is the sole cable service provider. They argued in their testimonies to the hearing that such regulatory body would not help the industry as it cited that these functions currently being performed by the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation are sufficient.

Obligatory

But Mr. Camacho maintained having this government commission is “obligatory” as he disclosed that franchise fees they pay annually to CUC amounting to over half-a-million dollars are enough to fund creation of the regulatory body.

He also said that other telecom companies eyeing new investments here, such as StarTec/PCI, have been discouraged because the fiber optic telephone cables are owned wholly by one firm, GTE-Pacifica which owns MTC.

“With this much control by one company, the committee believed that discriminatory practice may occur and has been informed that such practice does exist,” stated in the report.

“This bill, if passed as proposed by the committee, will encourage private telecommunication companies to invest in the CNMI with a sense of security and serve the public’s interest,” it added.

Mr. Apatang, however, stressed companies must follow the example set by MTC which has invested more than $16 million to put up the fiber optic cables that helped push down long-distance phone rates in the CNMI.

They should not expect “freebies,” he added, saying that the island government must learn to take care of existing businesses which have put in a lot of money for economic development.

Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider echoed his sentiment, emphasizing that new businesses that wish to come in will be guided by competition in terms of prices offered to the consumers.

“We have to be careful in taking the franchise out of CUC,” he told the one-hour session. “I’m so fearful of creating another commission that will mean more regulations for businesses.”

Mr. Apatang said that federal regulations actually “deregulate” the industry and prohibits monopoly, adding that he’s happy with the present set-up, only that CUC must promulgate rules and regulations and hire telecom specialists.

“If we set up this commission, it will hamper the development because we are restricting them by putting more regulations into the telecom business,” he said.