USA - $1,500,000 in lobbying for first quarter

Telecom trade group's 1Q lobbying reached $1.5M

The U.S. Telecom Association spent more than $1.5 million in the first quarter to lobby on high-speed Internet access, telephone taxes and other issues, according to a disclosure report.

The trade group, whose members include AT&T Inc., Embarq Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc., also lobbied the federal government on legislation to prohibit manipulation of caller ID information and to reform federal subsidies to provide broadband service, appropriations for the Agriculture Department and Federal Communications Commission, Internet security, privacy and other similar issues.

In the first three months of the year, the trade group lobbied Congress, the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, according to the report filed April 21 with the House clerk's office.