High Tech Broadband Coalition (HTBC) gave FCC ‘quantitative analy...
High Tech Broadband Coalition (HTBC) gave FCC “quantitative analysis” estimating that continued imposition of unbundling regulations on incumbent telcos would deter $20 billion in investment in broadband fiber to neighborhoods. HTBC said the $20 billion was conservative because it…
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was based on 2-year-old technology that would stop at neighborhood sites rather than going all way to homes. With unbundling obligations, it has proved uneconomical for telcos to provide fiber to neighborhoods, group said in reply comments filed as part of FCC’s triennial review of unbundled network element (UNE) requirements. Coalition is composed of high-tech associations including Business Software Alliance, Consumer Electronics Assn., Information Technology Industry Council, National Assn. of Mfrs., Semiconductor Industry Assn., Telecom Industry Assn. Group also repeated proposal to lessen UNE regulation of incumbent telcos’ broadband services while maintaining “significant safeguards” to assure competitors continued access to those facilities. Plan calls for eliminating unbundling obligations on incumbents’ new, last-mile broadband facilities, including fiber and DSL (or successor electronics) deployed on customer side of central office. At same time, coalition said, incumbents would continue providing competitors with colocation space and unbundled access to their legacy copper facilities. HTBC also called on FCC to implement bandwidth and deployment benchmarks on ILECs, once unbundling was removed.