If the FCC decides to pursue an investigation of the special-acce...
If the FCC decides to pursue an investigation of the special-access market, it should require information from all providers, said officials from USTelecom, Verizon, AT&T, Qwest and Embarq. The carriers told the Wireline Bureau at a meeting Friday that…
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comprehensive data collection would show the special market is competitive and needs no regulation. Incumbent local carriers have provided much information to the FCC already, but competitors “have consistently refused to participate in efforts” by the FCC and others to test competition levels, USTelecom said in an ex parte summary of the meeting. The commission at least “needs to require CLECs (including those out-of-region CLECs owned by ILECs), cable operators, fixed wireless providers (including WiMAX providers), and facilities-based wireless providers that self-provision to their cell sites, to provide substantive information on the scope and capabilities of their own networks and the various alternatives to ILEC special access services that are available to them,” it said. The FCC should also seek data from retail purchasers of special access services that want to take part, it said. The commission should use its subpoena authority to ensure a comprehensive response, it said. USTelecom also urged the FCC to “proffer the right questions to the right providers.” Otherwise, the commission “runs the risk of missing a segment of the market or providing some competitors an opportunity to under-report facilities or not report at all.” Sprint Nextel “has filled the docket with data which shows there is a clear failure in the special access market,” said a company spokesman. “Additional data will only confirm these facts. While additional data from these carriers may be useful, AT&T, Verizon and the other USTA members should not be permitted to simply kick the can down the regulatory road.”