Bucking a view that overhauling special access is just a concern ...
Bucking a view that overhauling special access is just a concern of competitive phone companies, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association endorsed pro- regulation positions of the new NoChokePoints Alliance (CD June 23 p1). In a letter late Wednesday, the…
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association asked the FCC to collect information from Qwest, AT&T and Verizon “and then to act on imposing necessary regulations to restrain anti-competitive pricing and conduct for special access services.” It rejected “as punitive and irrelevant” a USTelecom proposal to collect data from schools, hospitals and businesses of all sizes. Lack of special-access competition reduces the availability of affordable broadband in rural areas, the NTCA said. Many small incumbent local exchange carriers rely on large incumbents’ circuits to provide broadband in rural areas, it said. But there’s “minimal, if any, choice of special access carriers in many rural areas” and no price declines, discounts or flexibility on terms, it said.