NASUCA, Others Press FCC on Special Access; Draft Item Seen as Mystery
The FCC should revisit its deregulation of incumbent telco special access rates, said the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates and Maryland Office of People's Counsel in a Tuesday filing in docket 05-25. They cited recent submissions by the…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Consumer Federation of America and Sprint that point to ILEC dominance in the market for dedicated services. The advocates urged the FCC to "reform special access based on the record already before it" without further delay, though they appreciated the commission planned to consider a draft Further NPRM and tariff order April 28 (see 1604080011). A Sprint filing the day before summarized recent meetings its representatives held with FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet and aides to all five commissioners. Sprint said in a presentation there was inadequate competition to discipline business data service prices, terms and conditions. The appropriate geographic market was individual buildings and cell sites, but even using the data for census blocks, as preferred by ILECs, showed a lack of competition, Sprint said. A telecom industry official told us Tuesday that stakeholders are still focused on "information gathering" regarding the draft FCC item. "Until people understand what they’re proposing, it’s very hard to comment," the official said. "Obviously cable is upset because they think they’re getting thrown under the bus," but it's still not clear how cable would be regulated, the official said. Much will hinge on a white paper by an FCC consultant that is expected to be attached to the FNPRM, the official said.