FCC Should OK Windstream UNE Bid To Clarify BDS Market Picture, Consultant Says
The FCC should approve a Windstream petition to ensure ILEC DS1 and DS3 loops are available to competitors as discounted unbundled network elements (UNEs) even if fiber replaces copper (see 1603150065), CCMI consultant Andrew Regitsky said in a blog post…
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Friday. Clearer DS1 and DS3 UNE rights would not only give Windstream and other CLECs lower wholesale prices in some cases but also more leverage in broader special access negotiations, Regitsky told us by phone (DS1s and DS3s provide traditional special access service). The FCC so far "has chosen to sit on" the Windstream petition," Regitsky's blog post said, despite a recent Further NPRM to revamp the special access framework for business data service, or BDS (see 1604280057 and 1605030001). "The agency is currently in the process of developing new regulations for the [BDS] market, including the classification of markets into competitive or non-competitive to create new rules for special access and Ethernet services," he wrote. "But how can it determine if a market is competitive if the market participants have no idea what service alternatives are available? It is high time for the Commission to act on this issue and end the continued uncertainty for both ILECs and CLECs." CLECs generally supported the FCC's regulatory course in the FNPRM while most large ILECs were critical. Although Regitsky previously worked for CLEC trade group Comptel (now Incompas), he recently slammed FCC BDS proposals as "Bizarro world" regulation (see 1605060057).