COMCAST COMPLAINS ABOUT INCUMBENT PHONE COMPANY PRACTICES
Comcast finds itself in the unusual position of fighting for the little guy on phone issues. Comcast Phone, a division of cable giant Comcast that provides traditional circuit-switched telephony, complained about some ILEC practices in a recent FCC filing. The letter was filed in response to BellSouth’s request for a declaratory ruling that state commissions not be allowed to require BellSouth to provide wholesale or retail broadband services to consumers who get voice services from CLECs when those accounts use unbundled network elements (UNEs).
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Comcast said while it’s a CLEC in several states, it doesn’t use ILEC UNEs. “Nevertheless, Comcast Phone is affected negatively by the types of practices that BellSouth is seeking to have this Commission sanction,” Comcast wrote. According to Comcast, an ILEC’s practice of terminating DSL service when a customer chooses a CLEC for voice service “adversely affects facilities-based CLECs like Comcast Phone as well.” Comcast really doesn’t go head to head with BellSouth, but said practices described by others mirror its experiences where it competes with Verizon, as in Mass.
Comcast goes on to complain that Verizon has rejected some of its telephone number porting requests because the customer has Verizon DSL. The “mere presence” of ILEC DSL service results in automatic rejection of the customer’s request to switch to Comcast Phone service, Comcast claimed. “Verizon rejects such local service requests despite the fact that Comcast Phone is a facilities-based provider and Verizon retains the entire loop upon which to continue to provide DSL,” Comcast said. Comcast said this amounts to a violation of number portability requirements under the Communications Act and the Commission’s rules because these cases raise no “technical feasibility” issues.
Comcast told the FCC it had suffered delays and additional costs in acquiring voice customers because Comcast Phone has to go back and convince those customers to give up an unrelated service -- the ILEC’s DSL. “In many cases, when potential customers become aware that they will have to give up their DSL service to obtain Comcast Phone’s voice services, they decide to remain with the ILEC,” Comcast told the FCC. Additionally, Comcast has to send the customer back to the ILEC yet again, this time to cancel DSL, thus “providing an additional sales opportunity for the ILEC to win back the customer,” Comcast said.
Comcast Phone provides its circuit-switched services in areas including Alexandria, Va., Atlanta, Boston Chicago, Dallas, and Denver. The company plans to break into VoIP in the coming years, and that could potentially change the regulatory landscape. A Comcast spokesman declined to elaborate on the filing. Verizon Vp-Federal Regulatory Michael O'Connor said Verizon doesn’t offer DSL as a stand- alone service and in areas where a CLEC isn’t facilities- based, Verizon will port the number, “but the customer must first disconnect the DSL, and that’s an industry accepted practice.”