[CWN-Summit] Fwd: [onShore-Tech] FCC exempts fiber-to-curb from sharing requirements

[Stelios Valavanis]

it's rollback time.

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Subject: [onShore-Tech] FCC exempts fiber-to-curb from sharing requirements
Date: Sunday 17 October 2004 02:00 pm
From: Steve Kent <stevek at onshore.com>
To: tech at onshore.com

By Grant Gross
IDG News Service, 10/14/04

The Federal Communications Commission Thursday voted to allow incumbent
telephone carriers to refrain from sharing fiber-to-the-curb deployments
with competitors, prompting one incumbent to announce an accelerated fiber
rollout.

But two consumer groups, the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers
Union, decried the ruling as bad for competition. The two groups said in a
joint press release that the decision will stop competitors from accessing
the fiber necessary to provide advanced services and result in higher
prices and slower innovation.
Advertisement:

The FCC today took our country one giant step closer toward
solidifying a two-company domination -- the local cable and telephone
providers -- over the consumer Internet market, Gene Kimmelman,
senior policy director for Consumers Union, said in the press release.
As both industries tighten their hold on high-speed Internet access,
consumers will see their choices diminish and their bills skyrocket.\u201d

Commissioners supporting the decision called it a step toward consistency
with rules that allow the incumbent telephone carriers, often called the
regional Bells, from sharing most fiber-to-the-home network facilities
with competitors. The FCC in its triennial review order finalized in
August 2003 argued that the forced sharing of fiber to the home as part of
unbundled network element (UNE) rules discourage the four large regional
Bells from rolling out new fiber, necessary for advanced broadband
services.

"I see no reason why our regulatory framework should favor one type of
(fiber) architecture over the other," said FCC Commissioner Kathleen
Abernathy. "Rather, deployment decisions should turn on business
considerations."

Fiber-to-the-curb loops, where fiber is extended to within 500 feet of a
customer's premises, are covered by the new FCC action. Commissioners
supporting the decision said fiber to the curb can provide many of the
same benefits, including voice and advanced video services, that fiber to
the home can.

The UNE rules, a set of regulations forcing the Bells to share part of
their networks at discounted prices, were originally designed to foster
competition among telecommunications services by giving competitors to the
Bells a way to offer services without building their own networks. The
Bells inherited much of their networks after the breakup of the old AT&T
in the early 1980s, but the FCC in recent years has moved toward
encouraging Bell competitors to build their own telecommunications
networks.

After the FCC vote Thursday, incumbent SBC Communications said it plans to
accelerate its fiber rollout, reaching 18 million U.S. homes in two to
three years, rather than five years as previously announced. SBC plans to
deploy 38,800 miles of fiber at a cost of $4 billion to $6 billion,
according to the company.

The shovel is in the ground, and we are ready to go, SBC
Chairman and CEO Edward Whitacre said in a statement. Rational rules
promote innovation and investment in new networks and services for
consumers. And so with this positive policy movement, the delivery of
next-generation broadband and video services is no longer at some distant
point in the future. The future is now.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps opposed the decision, saying it encourages
monopolies. "The loop represents the prized last mile of communications,"
he said. "Putting it beyond the reach of competitors can only entrench
incumbents who already hold sway. Monopoly control of the last mile
created all kinds of problems for basic telephone service in the last
century, and now we seem bent on replicating that sad story for advanced
services in the digital age."

_____________________________________
Steven Kent
Senior Network Engineer
onShore, Inc.
http://www.onshore.com

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