The FCC should collect data on special access competition from al...

Obama’s transition team (CD Dec 24 p7). Among other suggestions, TW said the FCC should apply price caps to all incumbent carrier special access services, regardless of capacity and technology. If adopted, Quinn said, the TW plan “would deliver a double body blow: destroying incumbent LEC incentives to invest in new infrastructure and, by mandating the leasing of our facilities at below-market rates, also eliminating our competitors’ incentives to invest in their own networks.” TW relied on “incomplete” and “stale” data to make its arguments, Quinn said. Available data is lacking because competitors like TW have “refused” to submit “specific data showing the extent of their networks, facilities, service offerings and market successes,” he said. “The new FCC should put an end to this gamesmanship by adopting rules that require all facilities-based broadband providers to report granular data on their broadband networks and services.” TW Telecom is happy to give more data if the FCC asks, but believes there’s enough on the record already to support its recommendations, said Thomas Jones, an attorney representing the company, in an interview. TW hasn’t submitted data maps detailing the specific location of wires, as AT&T desires, he said. But it has submitted “extensive” price comparisons showing AT&T charges too much, he said.