# Group Calls EchoStar/DirecTV Satellite Merger A Free Market



## Guest (Mar 6, 2002)

Group Calls EchoStar/DirecTV Satellite Merger A Free Market Solution To Digital Divide; Problem Plagues Rural, Lower Income

WASHINGTON, March 6 -- With 40 million Americans lacking access to wired broad-band services, federal regulators should stand out of the way and allow a private sector solution to this "Digital Divide" problem unfold, namely the EchoStar/DirecTV merger, former U.S. Senator Malcolm Wallop wrote Senators on a subcommittee assigned to study the merger.
Wallop, the chairman of the free market advocacy group, Frontiers of Freedom, said a "no-oply" currently exists in Rural America, as it relates to high-speed Internet access, so no providers are currently providing the service. EchoStar and DirecTV would be able to do what cable operators are not willing to do, Wallop said, and that is provide affordable high-speed Internet service via satellite to homes throughout Rural America.

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