Broadband Access Bulletin #4

FCC Comments Split Along Predictable Lines

by Paul Schneider [July 22, 1999]

Now that a cross-section of the telecommunication industry has dissected Internet Ventures, Inc.'s petition for leased access carriage of broadband Internet, where does the issue head next?

The short answer is back to the Federal Communications Commission. That's where interested parties will be sending replies to comments that already have been filed.

Internet Ventures (IVI) has posted comments—on the leased access side, from CDS Networks and Vermont Department of Public Services; on the cable side from AT&T and the National Cable Television Association—at its special Petition Web site. Those interested in sending an e-mail reply to the FCC can go to the Comment Form at IVI's Web site.

At last count, more than 600 comments had funneled into the Docket No. CSR-5407-L folder at the FCC. While individual citizens who were galvanized by the issue sent the vast majority of these, a number of more extensive analyses came from communications companies.

Support for IVI's petition has come from a broader coalition, including ISPs, governmental entities and, notably, telecom and utility companies and associations. Numbered among the latter category were Qwest Communications, the Telecommunications Resellers Association, and the United Telecom Council. Predictably, cable operators swarmed to the defense of keeping their broadband plants closed.

In its filing, Qwest noted that optimization of advanced backbone networks is contingent on "ubiquitous last-mile connectivity." "Competing carriers will not be able to build out competing facilities to all premises in the United States in the near future, and many premises may never see new local loops built to their locations. As a result, tens of millions of U.S. customers will have only two telecommunications wires into their homes—the local loop of the incumbent local exchange carrier and the cable system's loop—for many years."

The Telecommunications Resellers Association, representing more than 800 entities involved with telecommunications resale, reminded the FCC that it has recognized that "entry by many competitors is more likely to bring low prices, high quality, constant innovation, and improved price/performance ratios, a variety of retail services and as many ISPs and content providers as the market will support."

The United Telecom Council, the national representative on communications matters for more than 1,000 electric, gas, and water utilities and natural gas pipelines, expressed an interest in promoting opportunities for utilities to provide competitive telecommunications and information services.

The FCC this week granted IVI's request for an extension of the reply period: Replies now are due at the Commission by August 11.

Broadband Access Bulletin #1
Broadband Access Bulletin #2
Broadband Access Bulletin #3

Paul Schneider is public relations counsel for Internet Ventures, Inc.