FCC Backs Neutral Tandem over Verizon in Circulating Order
Neutral Tandem seems headed for a victory at the FCC in a long fight with Verizon Wireless over whether the carrier should have to provide direct connection to its network. An order dealing with a Neutral Tandem petition sent the FCC last year (CD Aug 28/06 p4) has been circulated by Chairman Kevin Martin, possibly for a vote at the Oct. 31 agenda meeting.
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Verizon Wireless is the only major carrier that won’t provide Neutral Tandem a direct connection, the company said. “Tandem’s motion for interim order asks the FCC to take the extraordinary step of reinstating a commercial contract that was negotiated at arm’s length and that has lawfully expired,” Verizon Wireless fired back. Level 3, involved in a separate interconnection fight with Neutral Tandem (CD July 30 p5), filed in Verizon’s support. But Neutral Tandem has considerable support, too, including from the New York Public Service Commission and the cities of New York and Chicago.
The fight touches on public safety and homeland security, Neutral Tandem said in recent filings to the FCC. “Despite the growth of new, competitive telecommunications networks, such networks are often highly dependent on the incumbent local exchange carriers’ infrastructure,” the company said in a white paper it gave the commission. “Given that over half of the nation’s voice traffic is now routed via competitive carriers, this dependency on legacy LEC tandems creates a critical choke point in our nation’s telecommunications infrastructure, exposing the public to serious risks that have recently been identified as a homeland security issue.”
Neutral Tandem plays an important role in helping manage network surges, said its most recent filing at the FCC, made last week. The company wrote FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate, citing comments she had made at the FCC’s September summit on communications surge management in emergencies. The company noted that tandems often are a major bottleneck in surges.
“This threat is becoming even more pressing to the nation as the percentage of the aggregate voice traffic handled by non-traditional carriers, including wireless and cable providers, continues to increase,” the company said. “Neutral Tandem has been found to reduce the risk of a tandem bottleneck by increasing tandem capacity and adding route diversity in the termination of tandem switched traffic.”