UNE NPRM to Move Forward After 3-2 FCC Meeting Vote
Commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines to issue an NPRM in FCC docket 19-308 on eliminating regulations on certain unbundling and resale requirements for ILECs to make parts of their facilities-based networks available to CLECs that want to use the unbundled network elements (UNEs) to sell voice and broadband services (see 1911190009). Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks dissented. The new rules would eliminate most requirements for ILECs to unbundle and resell certain voice-grade and DSL loops except for residential use in certain rural areas. The NPRM proposes a three-year transition.
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"Over the past two decades, the communications landscape has dramatically transformed, with both the voice and broadband marketplaces replete with competition from a multitude of providers using a variety of technologies and offering capabilities and services unforeseen in 1996," said Chairman Ajit Pai.
Rosenworcel said some decisions to scale back regulations from the Telecom Act have been prudent, but this rulemaking "is flawed" and proposes to cut away at the law's core competitive tenets. She added it's written in a manner suggesting "the outcome is all but predetermined." She had requested starting with a notice of inquiry.
Starks said CLECs are grappling with how to adapt to recent rule changes answering a USTelecom petition for forbearance from ILEC requirements to make other UNEs available to CLECs at regulated costs (see 1908050009). He said not all pro-market rules are outdated, and the FCC should carefully analyze the recent deregulatory activity that brought "sweeping changes just a few months ago." Deregulation could make it harder for smaller carriers to bid on government telecom service contracts, he suggested.
ILECs supported the vote, and CLECs opposed it Friday. "Everything has changed in our turbo-charged communications sector since 1996," said Jonathan Spalter, USTelecom president. "Everything except the unbundling rules. It's time those changed too." He said there's "no rational argument in 2019 to subject only incumbent wireline providers -- that already face stiff competition -- to outdated, intrusive and unfair rules that do not apply to any other providers."
Verizon welcomed work to update unbundling and resale rules to reflect current market. It looks forward to participating in the rulemaking "to demonstrate that these legacy requirements are no longer necessary in our competitive environment," said Will Johnson, senior vice president-federal regulatory and legal affairs.
Incompas said FCC plans to rely on "flawed data" from "broken broadband maps" to determine where it will deregulate UNE rules in rural communities. "Killing competition before fixing the maps is bad policy, terrible politics and legally flawed," said CEO Chip Pickering.