The FCC should immediately ‘reregulate’ the special access market...
The FCC should immediately “reregulate” the special access market, and reject arguments by USTelecom and others that an FCC data request is needed, said Public Knowledge, Media Access Project, New America Foundation and U.S. PIRG. In a Wednesday letter…
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to acting Chairman Michael Copps, the public interest groups said no new data is needed to see that the FCC’s 2000 decision to deregulate the market “has resulted in higher prices and market dominance by incumbent providers such as Qwest, AT&T and Verizon.” USTelecom’s effort to spur a new data request is “a transparent delaying tactic designed to prolong for as long as possible the extraction of monopoly rents by its members,” they said. If the FCC decides more information is needed, it should compel it from USTelecom members, they said. “If this information indicates that potential competitors have not been forthcoming about their services, the Commission has the power to compel responses from them as well.” Any data request should be “short and clearly targeted,” they said. “It’s somewhat ironic that Public Knowledge is asking the FCC to take action without the knowledge and data necessary to make an informed decision on such a complex and important issue,” said a USTelecom spokesman. The current deregulatory policy has resulted in $120 billion in private-sector investment over the past two years, he said. “We should be focusing constructively together on continuing this investment, not reverting to failed policies that held it back.”