Bob Kerrey: “I have no problem, as I understand it, with this amendment. As I see it, the Senator from Pennsylvania is bringing a…”

“I have no problem, as I understand it, with this amendment. As I see it, the Senator from Pennsylvania is bringing a request from the Bell operating companies to clear up this language so that the Bell operating companies will know with certainty that their companies can get into long distance cellular service. The "Dear Colleague" sent out by the Senator from Pennsylvania explains it so far as it goes, talking about the difficulty that the Bell operating companies are having as a consequence of an unusual situation where the Federal Communications Commission has drawn up LATA's that determine what the local area is. Excuse me, the Justice Department. And the Federal Communications Commission, when they did the cellular lotteries, used MSA's, mobile service areas. But let us be clear on this. The idea that the Bell operating companies that the amendment will protect have been somehow abused in this deal is stretching it a little far, in my judgment. They were given this cellular franchise in the local areas. They were given it. Everyone else had to go through a lottery process, so they were given this license to begin with. In my judgment, what the Bell operating companies are asking the Senator from Pennsylvania to do with this amendment is, it seems to me, quite reasonable and I will not oppose it.”