USTelecom petitions FCC to ease up on ’90s-era rules on landline providers
The U.S. broadband industry lobbying association USTelecom has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to eliminate some rules from the 1990s that made large telecom companies share their networks with smaller, regional operators at low prices, arguing that those rules no longer fit the marketplace. The process, known as forbearance, allows companies to ask the FCC to stop enforcing regulations if they meet criteria that mean they are no longer necessary. The FCC must act on such requests within one year or they are, by default, granted.
“Maybe there were some reasons for these rules in 1996 when Congress created them. But those days are long gone,” writes Jonathan Spalter, president and CEO of USTelecom in a USTelecom blog post. The lobbying group said it has made two similar requests previously that were granted.
In 1996, in an effort to increase landline competition, the FCC required local telephone companies or ILECs (incumbent local exchange carriers) to sell access some of their copper networks at prices set by regulators.
Now, fewer Americans have landlines, says the filing, with subscriptions dropping from 186 million in the year 2000 to approximately 35 million households this year — mostly due to consumers turning to wireless voice services. This, combined with the level of market competition that exists now from wireless, cable and other providers, makes the rule out of touch with the times, USTelecom argues.
USTelecom posits that consumers and the economy will benefit once the requirements are removed. Spalter cites a market study that claims consumers could save as much as $1 billion and that removing the regulations could lead to more than $1.8 billion in new investment over ten years and add 6,000 jobs to the economy. “Overall, forbearance has the potential to increase economic output by $5.4 billion over the next ten years,” says Spalter.
This petition asks FCC to eliminate a number of details of the regulations, including no longer requiring ILEC-specific unbundling and resale mandates, non-discriminatory treatment in requests for service and requirements on separate affiliates for long distance services. It also asks the FCC to stop requiring regional Bell operating companies to provide nondiscriminatory access to infrastructure including poles, rights-of-way, ducts and conduit; USTelecom says the specific regulation duplicates other sections, and adds that “ownership of poles has been declining sharply [which] further undercuts the rationale for subjecting RBOCs to duplicative regulation in this area.”
