October 2004 IT Update (pdf)

“In rural, non-competitive areas, the ability of a regulator to force cross-subsidy through implicit universal service mechanisms is dwindling,” notes Ray Gifford, president of the Progress and Freedom Foundation, in the lead article for the October issue of IT Update. Universal service and telecom competition in the Internet era present a host of issues state regulators cannot ignore, Gifford notes. The issue also discusses the refusal of California regulators to release their grip on telecom; the Internet’s 35th birthday; NCSL and ALEC resolutions favoring telecom reform; copyright and the Internet; and a U.S. District Court ruling rejecting, temporarily at least, a Kansas rule preventing SBC from acting to win back customers.