
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990                   TAG: 9004130886
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TELECOMMUNICATIONS IS PRIVATE DOMAIN

THE BACKGROUND of your April 1 editorial on fiber optics was quite perceptive. The telecommunications network (now including wire cable, coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable, and various radio frequency bands) is a vital component of the infrastructure of modern society. That this nation's telecommunications system is (and has always been) incomparable to that of any other is universally accepted.

Another unique characteristic of the telecommunications system in the United States is that, throughout its history, it has been developed and controlled by private industry. (Although that U.S. industry was led by AT&T until 1985, many people fail to appreciate that it included more than 10,000 other cooperating corporations.) There can be no doubt amongst objective people that the United States enjoys this heritage because we depended on private industry and not on government control.

Your editorial cites "a report from the Consumer Federation of America and the American Association of Retired Persons [that] says that centralized control by the telephone companies is the wrong route to take." It is abundantly clear throughout world history that governments tend to stifle innovation, whereas the very survival of private corporations depends on innovation.

Another difficulty I find with your editorial is the lack of an alternative. You recognize the far-reaching advantages to our people from a fiber-optic network. If not developed by the telecommunications industry, then by whom? Heaven help us if Congress creates another calamity like the horrendous savings-and-loan catastrophe.

\ WILLIAM R. COWEN\ RADFORD

by CNB