Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise really in support of the Tauzin amendment. If we go back to 1984, at that point the marketplace opened up. If we wanted to go pre-1984 and say we really need to take a fresh look, then perhaps this bill, as written, would make some sense. But the point is that in 1984, competition was arrived at. Other satellites were out there, there were other opportunities. So the concept of 'fresh look' may make sense in some situations, but it does not make sense in 1998 in this instance. The idea that COMSAT should now be forced to renegotiate its contracts might make sense if COMSAT were a true monopoly, but as some have spoken before today, and I would like to add to it, they are not a monopoly. In fact, the FCC has declared COMSAT is a nondominant carrier in 85 percent of the business they do. Furthermore, there are a lot of competitors to INTELSAT satellites. COMSAT now carries 21 percent of the voice traffic. That is down from 70 percent just a few years ago, and it does not qualify as a monopoly. In video, COMSAT has only 42 percent of the market share. Again, hardly monopolistic when, a few years ago, they had almost 90 percent of the video marketplace. In addition, if we were to require COMSAT to reopen all of its contracts, contracts that were legally negotiated in good faith, remember, we are then opening the Federal Government up to what I think are substantial damages.”