Cable, AT&T, Competitive Fiber Providers Lobby FCC Against BDS Regulation
Cable interests, AT&T and competitive fiber providers continued to lobby the FCC against potential business data service (BDS) regulation they say would be unjustified. Rate regulation of Cox Communications offerings "will significantly impact BDS investment decisions, particularly on competitive providers,"…
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said a Cox filing Monday in docket 16-143 on a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. "We urged the Commission to reject competitive market tests ('CMTs') based on overly granular areas such as census blocks or specific locations, and to reject CMTs that would require multiple competitors before finding a market competitive. We noted that such tests would lead to exceedingly broad price regulation that is not supported by the record." Cox said any new regulation should be limited to incumbent telco TDM-based services where they have substantial market power. The American Cable Association opposed any rate regulation of nonincumbent BDS providers, which merit "light touch" regulation, said ACA on a meeting with General Counsel Howard Symons, Wireline Bureau Chief Matt DelNero and another staffer. AT&T said a competitive market test should deem a census tract competitive if at least two providers have deployed fiber facilities within 2,000 feet. AT&T questioned the proposals of competitors, including Incompas/Verizon, that would count competitors only if they have actual customers or connections in the relevant area. It also made filings on: "endogeneity" problems it said plagued market power conclusions based on regression analysis conducted by FCC consultant Marc Rysman (here); a study disputing Sprint arguments (here); and various BDS issues discussed with Symons, DelNero, an aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler and other staffers (here). Lightower Fiber Networks and Lumos Networks argued against regulating competitive fiber provider rates, as did Uniti Fiber. Granite Telecommunications urged the FCC to "delink" a tech-transition wholesale platform service remedy from the BDS proceeding and retain the wholesale "regulatory backstop" until it completes an examination of the wholesale voice platform market. The Quilt, a nonprofit group representing research and education (R&E) networks, asked the FCC not to sweep R&E networks into the same BDS regulatory category as commercial providers.