It was standing room only today at the Unpingco Legislative Hall, as a veritable who's who of the heavyweights in the island's telecomm game came before a legislative committee in Hagatna before lunch.  While Public Utilities Commission legal counsel Fred Horecky said the members of his organization respect the intent of the legislation, which seeks to deregulate an already lucrative and hypercompetitive industry, he urged the committee to not pass the bill in its current form.

"The PUC endorses the goals of the bill," Horecky announced, "but believes that its provisions do not accomplish the goals, are not in the best interests of telecommunications users, and would harm the environment that the Commission has been trying to establish."  

It became quickly evident based on the first few rounds of feedback that GTA TeleGuam, formerly an agency within the local government, would be fighting an uphill battle.  Pacific Data Systems president John Day, pointed out, "The bill seeks to regulate video services, where no such regulations may apply to this type of service.  Bill 391 was created in a vacuum without any comment of feedback from the companies that would be most affected by this legislation, except for one carrier: GTA."

Craig Thompson, who's MCV Broadband directly competes with GTA in the digital TV and land line markets, said, "I'm not so sure that quality of service standards are necessary in a competitive business.  If you screw up your customer service, your customer speaks to a rep a lot more quickly than you can speak to the Legislature."

IT&E legal counsel Steve Carrara also noted his company's support for future revisions of Bill 391, but stated, "Ultimately we believe the bill to be vague and that it would be contradictory to competition in Guam and we believe further analysis of the required."

So when it came time for GTA TeleGuam itself to take a turn at the table, representatives made sure to defend the merits of the bill, and put down the perception that it creates a competitive imbalance monopoly.  Executive vice-president Andrew Gayle told the committee, "In its four years of operating experience, Guam telecommunications law should be modified to take into account the new competitive model that has developed in the industry over the last decade.  

"Today there are three new competitors in wireline telecommunications services.  There are four existing wireless provides, three of which are larger than GTA; there is an existing cable TV provider that operates with no local regulation.  The law should be modernized to take these facts into account."

So for the moment, the jury's out on Bill 391 (metaphorically speaking).  GTA's momentum behind the legislation was notably outweighed by the more voluminous and passionate opposition to the bill that suggested the concept just be put down altogether.  More intriguing still was the testimony that called for a surgical restructuring of the bill with changes that act in the true spirit of competition.

One thing is for sure: with the economy in a depressed state and opportunity on the horizon with the population expansion driven by the relocation of U.S. troops and their families from Okinawa, this is one line of business that Guam can't afford to upset.