Telcos await FCC action on broadband

Competition will suffer if Qwest wins, rival says

Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 8, 2007 at midnight

Text size  

• 0 Comments
• Email
• Print

Qwest Communications, AT&T and two other carriers are hoping to get federal relief next week from a requirement to sell high-speed services to competitors at certain rates.

Douglas County-based Time Warner Telecom is one of many smaller companies opposing the petitions, saying its ability to provide competitive broadband services to corporate customers would be affected.

"It will have a negative impact on competition" overall, said Bob Meldrum, Time Warner Telecom's vice president of corporate communications.

The Federal Communications Commission has a Tuesday deadline to act on Qwest's "forbearance" petition and has placed the issue on that day's meeting agenda.

Qwest didn't return several calls and e-mails for comment.

Local phone company incumbents like Qwest, AT&T(SBC) and Verizon control the lines leading to and into most of the country's business buildings. Companies like Time Warner Telecom need access to offer competitive services, except in cases where they have facilities of their own.

If broadband services are deregulated, Qwest no longer will have an incentive to resell broadband services at a reasonable rate, said Kelsi Reeves, Time Warner Telecom's vice president of federal government relations.

If the FCC grants relief, it would gut part of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Qwest and the other incumbents have maintained that wholesale rate caps are no longer necessary because there's enough competition.

Communications Daily reported that Qwest also maintained to the FCC in an ex parte letter this week that the FCC is legally obligated to give it relief because Verizon got similar relief last year.

Separately, Qwest has gotten local wholesale price relief in Omaha and is seeking such relief in Denver, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Seattle. Those petitions, which would affect the residential and small-business markets, are expected to be heard by the FCC next spring.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission, in comments to the FCC, said the Denver area still "lacks competition in an overall sense," with "intense competitive activity" concentrated in only a portion of the area.

"For the residential market, Comcast is the only true threat of entry, and only a few (competitive local phone companies) can survive independent on Qwest's (network services)," the PUC said. "Thus, the likely outcome of forbearance is duopoly. In most instances, a duopoly is virtually indistinguishable from a monopoly."

smithje@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5155

Featured

• Through Your Lens

  

  Submit your photos or see the Editor's Choice slide show here.

• Rocky Multimedia

  

  The news comes alive in our videos and slide shows. Catch up on what's happening today.

• Holiday Lights

  

  Is your house the jolliest on the block? Submit your holiday lights display.

• Holiday Gift Guide

  

  Looking to get a jump-start on the holiday shopping season?

• Mount Crushmore

  

  Which four Broncos greats should be immortalized on Mount Crushmore? Vote here.

• Bronco Dean's rant

  

  Listen to Bronco Dean's midweek rant on the Chiefs.

• Broncos Video

  

  Get the latest from Dove Valley as the Broncos prepare for Sunday's matchup.

• Calendar wallpaper

  

  Download this month's desktop wallpaper calendar

• Sam Adams' Open Mic

  

  Open Mic: Stirrin' the Soup with Matt Iseman