New ISP Lobby Group Fights ILEC Deregulation
A new grassroots group called the Washington Bureau for Internet Advocacy (WBIA) has sprung up to fight Bell moves to deregulate wholesale Internet pricing. The organization said its members include ISPs, CLECs and individual customers who fear the incumbent carriers will raise their rates and destroy the independent Internet provision industry.
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On Dec. 10, WBIA will launch what it calls the Gigabyte Virtual March on Washington -- an effort to flood the FCC and key lawmakers with thousands of e-mails decrying recent requests by BellSouth and Qwest for forbearance from certain wholesale rate requirements set by the Telecom Act of 1996. Specifically, Qwest has asked for a pass on dominant-carrier tariff regulation, rate averaging requirements and avoided-cost discounts for DSL services. BellSouth has requested forbearance on Computer Inquiry rules and Title II common carrier requirements related to broadband services.
The Bells “are picking apart the regulations to get us out of the way,” said Frank Muto, co-founder of WBIA. Muto, a former ISP owner, started the group a few weeks ago with Cynthia DeLorenzi, owner of the ISP Patriot Computer Group in Fairfax, Va. Other supporters of WBIA include the Information Technology Assn. of America, Comtel/Ascent, the California Internet Service Providers Assn., the National Internet Alliance, and the Rural Broadband Coalition.
Bells have made little secret of their wish to end govt. wholesale pricing regulations they deem onerous, but the bigger fight is with cable carriers, which have little govt. oversight when it comes to broadband deployment, said industry executives. “We want to compete with the cable guys,” said Charles Ward, vp-public policy for Qwest: “They have no regulation and we do.” Ward said the Qwest forbearance request would affect only the resellers of his company’s packaged Internet service and not buyers of wholesale lines such as Covad, which recently signed a deal with the company.
BellSouth declined to comment on the matter, but its filings to the FCC leave little ambiguity: “While BellSouth is currently required to provide wholesale broadband to competitors under FCC rules, cable companies are free to negotiate private agreements with the same ISP competitors. Again, BellSouth is simply asking for a level regulatory playing field.”
Small ISPs and CLECs are afraid they will be crushed as the behemoths circle in their fight with the cable industry. “We're stuck in the middle,” said Muto. The WBIA is in discussions with MCI and AT&T to join the effort. The group is self-funded and has no official lobbyist. It’s pushing to get as many comments as possible to the FCC before the filing deadline of Dec. 20, Muto said. The FCC has one year to act on forbearance requests. If it fails to respond, the requests are automatically granted. Mary Albert, vp-regulatory policy for CompTel/Ascent, doesn’t think the FCC will let that happen. But as written, the requests bode ill for the ISP industry. “It could create a very serious problem for ISPs. [ILECs] won’t have to offer them access on the same terms and conditions and they could deny access all together,” she said.