ON
FISCAL YEAR 1996 NTIA APPROPRIATIONS
BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, STATE,
THE JUDICIARY, AND RELATED AGENCIES
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 22, 1995
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for this opportunity to testify before you today on the 1996 budget request of the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Secretary Ron Brown often describes the Department of Commerce as the Department of the Future. NTIA fits well within that descriptive title. As the Executive branch agency responsible for domestic and international telecommunications and information policy, NTIA develops and implements Administration and Commerce Department policies that involve industries that represent almost 10 percent of our domestic economy. Generating more than $590 billion in annual revenues, the telecommunications and information sectors clearly are important today, and will be even more important in the future. Long-term economic prosperity and job growth in the United States are strongly tied to the success of these industries, and NTIA has the expertise and resources to help ensure that success.
Through both its international and domestic initiatives, NTIA is bringing new opportunities and benefits to American businesses and American consumers. NTIA's programs have focused on two major priorities, imperative for our being prepared for the Information Age: (1) promoting competition and opening markets, both global and domestic; and (2) ensuring that the traditionally underserved have access to the National Information Infrastructure (NII) and the Global Information Infrastructure (GII).
Promoting Competition and Opening Markets
NTIA has been tenacious in working to tear down barriers to competition in the telecommunications industry while protecting the interests of consumers. NTIA has convened conferences with state and local officials to develop joint policies that spur competition by opening local monopoly-controlled markets to new entrants. As the Executive branch's principal voice on communications matters, NTIA continually submits official comments and testimony to Congress on telecom-related matters and files comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an independent regulatory agency, in an effort to promote pro- competitive policies on a national basis.
By helping to open international markets to U.S. industries and promoting international standards that enhance the competitiveness of U.S. firms overseas, NTIA is also ensuring that the United States remains a world leader in the telecommunications and information revolution.
NTIA has supported trade missions led by Secretary Brown that have resulted in tremendous new opportunities overseas for American telecommunications and information firms. One trade mission to China generated more than $5 billion worth of American business contracts, many in the area of telecommunications. NTIA supported the Secretary's efforts to promote opportunities for U.S. telecommunications equipment manufacturers and service providers in Latin America. NTIA also led the preparations for the U.S. participation at the G-7 Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Brussels in February. That Conference resulted in an agreement among seven of the world's economic leaders on principles necessary for the development of a global information infrastructure.
By developing and promoting policies that will increase competition and stimulate further investment, NTIA is working to ensure the deployment of a 21st century telecommunications and information infrastructure that is accessible and affordable to all Americans.
NTIA is also reallocating radio spectrum to provide opportunities for new communications services. Charged with managing the federal spectrum, NTIA has identified 235 megahertz of spectrum that can be transferred from Federal Government use and potentially be auctioned off for private, commercial use. If recent experience is a barometer of future success, this effort will reap billions of dollars for the Federal treasury while also prompting technological advances. In addition, NTIA's federal laboratory in Boulder, Colorado is involved in transferring cutting-edge technology to the private sector. Such private- public sector partnerships are leading to the greater commercialization of advanced technologies and boosting the competitiveness of U.S. firms in overseas markets.
Ensuring Access for the Underserved
Increasingly, getting a good job requires computer and technology literacy. Unless individuals have access to the NII, and, ultimately, the GII, either at home, at work, or through public institutions, they will be at a serious disadvantage in finding and keeping a good job. Our nation appears to be headed in a dangerous direction. According to a recently released Census survey, the higher the income and educational attainment in a household, the greater the likelihood that the household has acquired a computer. The survey also showed that African American households are the least likely to own a computer. The Telecommunications Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP) administered by NTIA seeks to lessen this problem by funding projects which can help make the information age accessible to all Americans, regardless of where they live, how large their incomes are, or how much schooling they have attained.
TIIAP provides matching grants to schools, libraries, hospitals, state and local governments and other non-profit entities. Last year, TIIAP leveraged $24.4 million in Federal funds with $43 million in private, state and local funding. We awarded 92 grants to projects in 45 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. More than 72 percent of the funds went to projects serving rural America or traditionally underserved Americans living in urban areas.
By funding non-entertainment projects in predominately rural or underserved urban areas, TIIAP served as a catalyst for developing innovative educational and health care applications that might not otherwise have found their way to the market. In addition, many of the projects served to demonstrate new and available technologies that can be used as blueprints by others in the future.
Because of TIIAP, teachers in West Virginia will receive developmental training; residents in southern Ohio, northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana will be able to access on-line health information; rural hospitals in North Carolina will be able to conduct emergency consultations with the state's academic medical centers; and residents in fifteen western states will be able to access information databases.
Through TIIAP, a small capital investment can yield tremendous economic returns. For example, the St. Joseph Missouri School District will act as the lead agency in the development of a seamless, multi-user, fiber optic, metropolitan network. Through a partnership with the local cable company, all 30 public school sites in Buchanan County will be connected to local and national resources via lines dedicated for educational use. TIIAP assistance totaled $262,250 for this project; the community came forth with $5,477,250 -- a multiplier effect of over 20 times.
The Clinton/Gore Administration strongly supports this program and believes that it will help keep us from becoming a nation of information "haves" and "have nots." The President has requested $100 million for TIIAP in FY 1996, and is opposing efforts to rescind funds for this program in FY 1995. This year TIIAP will automatically set aside 25 percent of its funding for smaller, access grants. We are looking to use this part of the program as a means to more quickly disperse money for connections where it is needed most -- in rural and underserved urban areas of our country. We stand ready to work with this Committee to improve the program in other ways so that more Americans might obtain the benefits and have access to advanced telecommunications networks.
NTIA is requesting approximately $133 million for its diverse programs and activities in the upcoming fiscal year. The approximately 300 employees at NTIA do a tremendous amount with limited resources. The following is a more detailed summary of NTIA's goals and activities for FY 1996.
Salaries and Expenses
The $22.9 million appropriation request for salaries and expenses for FY 1996 would support four major NTIA activities: domestic telecommunications policy analysis, international telecommunications policy analysis, spectrum research, and telecommunications research and engineering. The Salaries and Expenses FY 1996 request contains two increases: (1) the Federal Government Spectrum Management Infrastructure and (2) Enhanced Emergency 911 for Wireless Services. These increases will be explained in detail in later sections.
Domestic Telecommunications Policy Analysis
The need for continued policy analysis of the domestic telecommunications market has never been greater. Rapid technological advances have been the norm in telecommunications including the following industries: satellite; cable television; wire-based voice and data telephone; and wireless voice, data, and video services. It is near certain that these technological advances, paired with pending telecommunications legislation that would permit service providers in the above industries to compete against each other, will further alter the telecommunications landscape. Throughout this process, NTIA aims to ensure that pending telecommunications policy reform legislation: (1) promotes competition; (2) encourages private investment; (3) ensures open access; (4) ensures universal service; and (5) promotes regulatory flexibility. By pursuing these goals, NTIA is both helping to safeguard the public interest and maximizing the competitiveness of the U.S. telecommunications industry.
In the next fiscal year, NTIA plans to continue the study of telecommunications and information issues, contribute to interagency policy development, file comments on such issues with the FCC, present Administration telecommunications and information proposals to Congress, industry, and the public, and participate in key conferences with state and local governments, consumer groups, and industry. NTIA will continue to pursue such policy-related efforts as publishing a report examining capital formation and investment in minority enterprises in the telecommunications industries and analyzing responses to the agency's notice of inquiry on universal service issued last year.
NTIA also has been coordinating its efforts with those of other Executive branch agencies through the interagency Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF), chaired by Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. The IITF includes high-level representatives of the Federal agencies that play a major role in the development and application of information and telecommunications technologies. NTIA serves as the Secretariat to the IITF and chairs several subcommittees.
NTIA plans to continue its prominent role in the IITF, including the Telecommunications Policy Committee (TPC), which formulates a unified Administration position on key telecommunications issues, and is chaired by the NTIA Administrator. The TPC takes into account current technological, marketplace, and regulatory developments in assessing current telecommunications policies or proposed changes in current policies. The TPC currently is working with Congressional leaders to formulate effective telecommunications reform legislation, and to then enact it into law.
NTIA also plans to continue its work with the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council, a group of private sector leaders from the telecommunications and information communities. NTIA assists the Council in its effort to advise the Secretary of Commerce on a national strategy for promoting the development of a National Information Infrastructure (NII).
International Telecommunications Policy Analysis
NTIA plans to continue to analyze, formulate, and develop regulatory and technical policies to improve the competitiveness of American telecommunications industry, and to provide access by the American consumers to high quality, competitively-priced international telecommunications services. NTIA will continue its efforts through such fora as the G-7 Ministerial Conference on the Information Society and the Global Information Infrastructure (GII) initiative that promote competition and open markets for U.S. telecommunications service providers and equipment suppliers. NTIA will continue to monitor and, as appropriate, participate in international standards-setting fora to ensure that the interests of U.S. telecommunications equipment manufacturers and service providers are adequately represented.
Spectrum Management
NTIA will continue its role as manager of the Federal radio spectrum to ensure that all vital radiocommunication needs for national security, safety (such as in air traffic control), protection (law enforcement), and other public services such as weather, natural resource and national park managment, and space research are adequately met. When doing this, NTIA must ensure that the Federal government uses the minimum amount of spectrum to perform its various missions, thus allowing unused or underused spectrum to be freed for private sector and other non- federal government use and maximizing the benefits to the American public. In this role, NTIA also has significant responsibilities in the development of international spectrum allocations, regulations and technical standards.
Of special note is an increase of $499,000 in the FY 1996 requested budget over last year's appropriation for modernizing and reengineering NTIA's Federal spectrum management system. The rapid growth of radiocommunications in the private, national, international, and Federal sectors has increased the need for efficient spectrum use and management processes. To address these needs in an environment of limited resources requires the development and use of advanced automation and information processing techniques. Accordingly, NTIA has proposed and is implementing a largely paperless, advanced, automated spectrum management system to replace the automated, but outdated, process currently in use.
The advanced and distributed computerized system will significantly reduce the time it takes all government agencies to satisfy Federal radiocommunication requirements. Electronic, in lieu of paper, document distribution will allow more rapid proposal review and development of policies, and will eliminate costly, routine coordination meetings that are now required. Standardized programs for preparation, review and submission of government agency requests for system review and frequency assignment will eliminate most submission errors because each submitting agency will have ready access to NTIA screening programs. NTIA anticipates entering the second phase of the modernization effort in FY 1996 by developing the specifications, options and cost trade-offs to provide secure, two-way communications between NTIA and the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) representatives. This phase would also include the use of stand-alone PCs for the automated selection and preparation of frequency authorizations planning and usage requests.
This new system would enable NTIA and the government agencies to meet their growing spectrum requirements in an environment of downsized personnel resources and reduced spectrum assets; and, at the same time, maximize sharing with the private sector. If funds for the modernization are delayed or denied, NTIA will continue to use the existing mainframe computer system which will not be able to provide the rapid and precise responses needed in today's complex spectrum management environment.
Telecommunications Research and Engineering Activities
The funding request for NTIA's telecommunications research and engineering activities would continue during the next fiscal year to help maintain the United States' position in the forefront of telecommunications technology. NTIA performs its research at the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences in Boulder, Colorado. Through the Institute, NTIA will continue to improve our understanding of radio-wave transmission to enhance spectrum use. The Institute also anticipates continuing studies to help develop domestic and international telecommunications performance standards, assess the performance of industry and government telecommunications networks, and evaluate new technologies for the future.
Also of special note is a $499,000 requested increase over the FY 1995 appropriation to fund the implementation of enhanced emergency 911 for wireless services. Currently no enhanced 911 services, including automatic number identification and automatic locator identification, are available from wireless telephones. This deficiency exists in spite of the promotion of cellular telephones by cellular providers as a personal safety device. In Los Angeles County alone, 25 percent or 150,000 of the cellular 911 calls in 1992 were unable to give their location, possibly resulting in the loss of life.
The requested funds would allow NTIA to set up a program to assist industry in establishing a comprehensive solution enhancing cellular 911 calls. The program would assess current wireless 911 services and evaluate possible radio location techniques, facilitate the integration of enhanced 911 services across wireline and wireless telecommunications, participate in and evaluate the demonstration of wireless enhanced 911 technologies, and coordinate between Federal, state, and local agencies, the National Emergency Number Association, private industry organizations, and telecommunications service providers.
Public Broadcasting Facilities
The Administration, and NTIA, remain firmly committed to public broadcasting and the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) in the upcoming fiscal year. The Administration is requesting $8 million to continue its efforts to meet the needs of public broadcasters and the millions of Americans who are served by public broadcasting systems around the nation.
The Administration's FY 1995 rescission request of $18 million reflects the need for budgetary restraint and is an attempt to bring the FY 1995 appropriated level of $29 million back to the President's original budget request of $10.8 million. The rescission request also reflects a shift in funding by including distance learning projects in the NII grants program for which public broadcasters were, and continue to be, eligible.
For remote areas without cable television, and sometimes without commercial stations, public broadcasting is a lifeline. NTIA plans to use every PTFP dollar wisely and to continue to fund, as a top priority, projects which establish public television and radio stations in unserved areas. The agency will also seek to give minorities and women more access to control of public broadcasting stations. NTIA, through the PTFP, will continue its efforts to expand technologies that improve public telecommunications services to the hearing and sight-impaired. NTIA also plans to give every consideration to maintaining essential equipment at stations in those communities which are currently only served by one public radio or television station. NTIA seeks to guard against stations "going dark" or providing inferior service to their viewers.
Children's Educational Television
NTIA is requesting funding to support the National Endowment for Children's Educational Television (NECET). This program enables NTIA to assist in the development of high quality, educational programming for children. To date, NECET has conducted two grant rounds, funding a total of 22 children's television projects from nine states totaling $3.4 million. During this period, NECET received over 425 applications from 43 states requesting over $150 million in funding for the creation and production of children's television programming.
NTIA plans to continue to provide assistance to worthy applicants to the NECET program and is requesting $2.5 million in the upcoming fiscal year. Children watch as much as five hours of television every day, and there are virtually no educational programs on commercial television designed for children. Television has great potential as a teacher -- and this program will help ensure that children have choices for educational programming. A ten-member advisory council, composed of individuals with experience in the field of children's television programming, research, and other related fields, will do a thorough review of the objectives of the program after completion of NECET's third grant round. They will suggest any changes which could improve and strengthen the program.
Conclusion
NTIA is in a unique position to influence significantly the ability of U.S. companies to compete in the global marketplace of the 21st century and to enhance the benefits to the public of a strong telecommunications industry. We appreciate this Subcommittee's past support, and look forward to working with you in the future.