After months of talking about information highways, the Clinton administration is close to sending legislation to Congress that would define the government's role in creating such a national information network.
The goal of the measure, expected to go to lawmakers soon after they return next month, would be to ease restrictions on companies developing new communications systems and foster competition.The bill also would protect public access to the latest technology so that no matter how poor, no one would be closed off from information necessary to compete for work or education.
The administration will support pending legislation permitting greater competition between the cable and telephone industries, The New York Times reported Monday. The administration also will support efforts to ease restrictions barring local phone companies from competing in long-distance service, the newspaper said.
"All of the bills are a step in the right direction," an administration official told The Associated Press Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
In addition, the Times said, the administration is working on plans to establish an electronic procurement system for the federal government and plans to expand the amount of government information available over computer networks for free.
The government is faced with the task of regulating a new world of telecommunications that hasn't taken shape yet.
Mergers between telephone companies, cable TV companies and computer firms are occurring rapidly as corporations gather the expertise and technology they need to give consumers interactive television, picture telephones and computer systems that provide access to the major data centers of the world.
Although the great visions of the communications corporations haven't hit the mass market yet, it's quite clear, officials say, that the Communications Act of 1934 needs an overhaul.
Also, the court agreement that broke up American Telephone & Telegraph 10 years ago is too restrictive in the rapidly changing media environment, administration officials say.
"The fundamental switch is from scarcity to plenty," the administration official said. In 1934, the government needed to protect the scarce public airwaves from being dominated by a single voice.
Now, digital technology has dramatically expanded the capacity of the airwaves for competing wireless communications devices. Coaxial and fiber-optic cable offer other high-capacity channels for even more information from a broad range of sources.
The telephone companies have gone from a monopoly - AT&T - delivering local and long-distance voice transmissions to three major long-distance companies and seven regional Bell systems.