Chief Executive Officer
Cynthia H. de Lorenzi
President
Bruce T. Long
10565 Fairfax Blvd
Suite 203
Fairfax, VA 22030
t: (703) 797-1888
f: (703) 273-9236
www.patriot.net
August 3, 2005
Federal Communications Commission
445 12
th
Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20554
RE: Docket 04-440
We are an ISP in Fairfax, Virginia that serves more than 3,500 customers in and around our
community. Deregulation will harm our business and the ability to provide competitive services to our
customers. Consumers need and deserve the choice they enjoy today and deregulation will take
away their right to choose providers and services.
President Bush signed Executive Order 13272 on August 13, 2002 requiring federal agencies to
implement policies protecting small entities when writing new rules and regulations. President Bush?
Small Business Agenda states that every new business starts with an idea for a better product or
process, which has been the driving force of Internet innovation we enjoy today.
These ideas become reality only when confident entrepreneurs are willing to take economic risks and
ISP's have gallantly taken this risk. Small businesses are the heart of the American economy because
they drive innovation ? new firms are established on the very premise that they can do a better job and
recognize that a one-size-fits-all approach is not good for business and innovation.
A few legacy carriers cannot continue to benefit from valuable government grants and licenses,
including the use of public rights-of-way, and be allowed to extend those rights in a way that bars
others from offering their service to the public.
President Bush has called for recognition that supporting America?s small businesses is critical to
ensuring continued job creation. Today, small businesses create two-thirds of new private sector jobs
in America, employ more than half of all workers, and account for more than half of the output of our
economy.
The FCC has been entrusted with protecting consumers, encouraging economic development, and
ensuring that competition is allowed to develop, rather than being quashed by a deregulated
monopoly. Already, we are seeing the Bells move to increase prices, and without regulation, small
business will be harmed, thousands of ISP's will be forced out business, highly-skilled workers will lose
their jobs and consumers will lose the choice of platform for broadband services and support.
Deregulation will be bad for America and we encourage you to reconsider deregulating Open Access.
Cynthia H. de Lorenzi
Chief Executive Officer
PatriotNet, Inc.
10565 Lee Highway
Suite 203
Fairfax, VA 22030
703-797-1888 x211
CdeLorenzi@patriot.net
www.patriot.net