Rural carriers have to let competitive telecom carriers interconnect and...
Rural carriers have to let competitive telecom carriers interconnect and exchange traffic with them, the FCC decided late Thursday. In a declaratory ruling, the commission said “we reaffirm basic interconnection rights for competitive providers of voice services.” The ruling was…
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posted on dockets 10-143, 09-51 and 01-92. “We clarify that LECs are obligated to fulfill all of the duties set forth in sections 251(a) and (b) of the [1934 Telecom] Act, including the duty to interconnect and exchange traffic, even if the LEC has a rural exemption from the obligations set forth in section 251(c),” the commission said. The ruling left aside the question of how to classify voice over Internet protocol traffic. Time Warner Cable, which had raised the case with the commission to preempt an order by Maine regulators, said it “applauds the FCC’s decision.” “Time Warner Cable and its wholesale provider, CRC Communications, have been seeking to enter several rural communities in Maine for the past three years but have been thwarted by incumbent providers’ flat refusal to enter into interconnections agreements,” the company said. “This ruling will help eliminate entry barriers and promote increased voice competition and broadband deployment not only in Maine, but in rural areas throughout the country.” Voice on the Net Coalition Executive Director Glenn Richards told us in an email: “This is a very positive, pro-competitive decision by the Commission that will help expand the availability of IP-enabled services into rural America.”