Verizon demonstrated a “lack of understanding of Sprint’s network modernization...
Verizon demonstrated a “lack of understanding of Sprint’s network modernization effort” when it argued that the carrier’s awarding wireless backhaul contracts to providers other than Verizon shows the competitiveness of the special access market, a Sprint Nextel spokesman told us.…
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Verizon in a letter to the FCC Wednesday said that Sprint’s Network Vision modernization plan, which moves its wireless backhaul away from TDM-based services toward next-generation higher capacity services, awarded relatively few contracts to Verizon (http://xrl.us/bnpncf). Verizon’s argument (CD Sept 13 p6) also shows “a lack of understanding of what the Federal Communications Commission is investigating in the special access proceeding,” the spokesman said. “While Sprint is investing billions of dollars through its Network Vision program to purchase new high capacity lines and significant network infrastructure, the company will continue to rely upon and purchase -- as does a majority of broadband customers -- the DS-1 and DS-3 circuits that are at the core of the FCC’s investigation. These circuits are not a part of Sprint’s Network Vision program,” Sprint said. “Unless the FCC acts to fix the broken special access market, Sprint will continue to be forced to purchase these special access circuits from Verizon and other incumbent local exchange carriers who typically earn rates of return which exceed more than 100 percent on average,” the spokesman said. “If Verizon believes these outrageous rates are evidence of competition, they should explicitly say so in the docket, rather than distort the facts and the context of Sprint’s network improvement program and the Commission’s investigation.” It’s “significant” that Verizon got so few of the contracts, because it indicates the widespread availability of competition across the map, not just in a few high-density areas, said Anna-Maria Kovacs, visiting senior policy scholar at Georgetown University’s Center for Business and Public Policy. She referenced a presentation by Adeel Siddiqui, Sprint’s backhaul development manager, that stated it’s moving to a combination of fiber and microwave, and plans to use several dozen alternate access providers. T-Mobile has made similar comments about its network, Kovacs said. “There is no question that within about a year, wireless carriers will have abandoned traditional TDM-based special access in favor of Ethernet and will select among dozens of providers.”