https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • Microwave/RF
    • T&D World
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

content


FCC battles for market balance

FCC battles for market balance

Last month's decision regarding the future of local telephone competition was the most complex of my tenure at the Federal Communications Commission.
  • Written by Urgent Communications Administrator
  • 1st April 2003

Last month’s decision regarding the future of local telephone competition was the most complex of my tenure at the Federal Communications Commission.

Throughout the decision-making process, I believed we needed to craft a package of balanced regulations — one that would help encourage investment in next-generation broadband infrastructure, and preserve local competition by maintaining access to the elements of the incumbent network that are essential for competitive services.

Consistent with the 1996 Telecom Act, where facilities-based competition exists, we should deregulate.

When markets are not yet open, however, regulations should continue to ensure that competitors can provide services to consumers. Competition first, then deregulation.

I believe that our decision in the Triennial proceeding achieves such a principled, balanced approach. We deregulate broadband where there is competition from cable, making it easier for companies to invest in new equipment and deploy the high-speed services that consumers desire. We preserve existing competition for local telephone service — the competition that has enabled millions of consumers to benefit from lower telephone rates. And we accomplish these goals in a manner that is consistent with the statute and the rulings of the courts.

The FCC’s order provides sweeping regulatory relief for broadband and new investments. Today, cable and DSL providers compete vigorously for new residential customers.

In fact, cable operators are the predominant providers of residential broadband; about two-thirds of all broadband consumers subscribe to cable, not DSL.

Yet it has been the incumbent phone companies — not the cable operators — required to unbundle their networks.

The order removes unbundling requirements on newly deployed fiber to the home, allowing for deployment of infrastructure to provide the broadband and video services of the 21st century. It provides regulatory relief for new hybrid fiber-copper facilities, deregulating the fiber and new packet-based technologies that provide broadband services today.

Finally, the order adjusts the TELRIC or “wholesale” prices for all new investment in equipment.

Companies seeking to push fiber further to the home and deploy new infrastructure will now have the opportunity. More consumers will be able to enjoy the speed and applications that a true broadband connection offers.

The decision also preserves and encourages local competition.

The 1996 act requires that competitors have access to pieces of the incumbents’ networks when they are “impaired” in their ability to provide service. The Court of Appeals has made clear that in analyzing impairment, “uniform national rules” may be inappropriate.

Rather, the commission should take into account specific market conditions and look at specific geographic areas. The FCC’s order follows these admonitions by putting in place a granular analysis that recognizes that competitors face different operational and economic barriers in different markets.

The barriers competitors face in trying to compete for residential customers in Manhattan, Kansas, are different from the barriers faced to compete for business customers in Manhattan, New York.

Some of my colleagues wished to end the unbundling of all residential switching immediately.

I believe such action would be inconsistent with recent court decisions and the state of competition in many markets. To declare an immediate end to the unbundling of all switching in every U.S. market would ignore the court’s mandate for a more granular analysis and effectively end residential competition.

The commission’s market-specific impairment analysis provides an important role for the states. Assessments of whether access to an element is necessary to provide service may vary significantly among different markets, states, and regions.

I believe that the states are better positioned to make the highly fact-intensive and local “impairment” determinations required by the Court of Appeals.

The FCC’s order achieves a balance that provides regulatory relief for incumbents’ new investment in advanced services while ensuring that local competitors have the access they need to provide service to consumers. I believe these steps will benefit consumers and the industry.

The collapse of the current push for telecommunications deregulation keeps the door open for competitive DSL providers, but it also threatens to further crimp spending by the large, incumbent providers to expand their footprints of the high-speed data service.


Kevin J. Martin is a commissioner on the FCC.

This article appears courtesy of Telephony magazine, a sister publication of Mobile Radio Technology.

Tags: content

Most Recent


  • FCC battles for market balance
    Newscan: Securing the Internet of Things is quite a challenge
    Also: EWA requests dismissal of 900 MHz applications; TIA names tech and policy priorities for 2014; IJIS Institute names Shumate Award winner; App makes bus waits more tolerable; a Blackberry comeback may be in the offing.
  • FCC battles for market balance
    Newscan: FCC certifies Carlson Wireless's white-space radio
    Also: Congress looks to revamp telecom law; Obama to place some restraints on surveillance; IEEE to study spectrum-occupancy sensing for white-spaces broadband; Major Swedish transport operator opts for Sepura TETRA radios; RFMD to partner on $70 million next-generation power grid project; NENA opens registratiuon for "911 Goes to Washington."
  • FCC battles for market balance
    Newscan: A look at the critical job of 911 dispatchers
    Also: NYC launches website for tracking 911 response times; Oregon implements 911 on pre-paid cell phones; LightSquared wants to keep spectrum assets; Harris receives multiple government orders; FCC extends rebanding financial reconciliation deadline; Zetron gear at core of communications system upgrade; Ritron debuts wireless access control system; EWA seeks policy review of VHF vehicular repeater system deployments.
  • FCC battles for market balance
    Newscan: Average peak data rates of 144 MB/s average realized in tests with CAT 4 LTE device
    Also: Verizon, T-Mobile to swap unused spectrum to improve coverage; Internet giants oppose surveillance--but only when the government does it; FCC Chairman says incentive auction will be delayed until middle of 2015; FCC chair announces staff appointments; Alcatel-Lucent names Tim Krause as chief marketing officer; New Jersey county deploys TriTech CAD system; Toronto airport deploys 26-position Zetron console system;

Leave a comment Cancel reply

To leave a comment login with your Urgent Comms account:

Log in with your Urgent Comms account

Or alternatively provide your name, email address below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • RugGear: Contributing to the future of mission-critical broadband communication review and market vision
  • Photo gallery: 2014 Communications Marketing Conference (CMC) in Tucson
  • FCC battles for market balance
    Top 5 Stories - Week of Sept. 22
  • FCC battles for market balance
    RCA plans to expand this year's Technical Symposium

Commentary


LTE and liability: Why the fire service must move forward with digital incident command

  • 2
6th May 2022

Partnership and collaboration must be the foundation for emergency communications

18th April 2022

FirstNet success means no hypothetical ‘shots’ need to be fired, Swenson says

22nd February 2022
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

Southern Linc official discusses MCPTT migration, interoperability with new partner Catalyst dlvr.it/SSr8VD

25th June 2022
UrgentComm

Newscan: NYPD’s bomb-sniffing dogs get a high-tech upgrade to keep city safe dlvr.it/SSpSD1

25th June 2022
UrgentComm

Chinese APT group likely using ransomware attacks as cover for IP theft dlvr.it/SSmJNm

24th June 2022
UrgentComm

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile tout Z-axis support for 911 dlvr.it/SSkGxK

23rd June 2022
UrgentComm

California grants first permit to test AVs using only Lidar sensing dlvr.it/SSkG7x

23rd June 2022
UrgentComm

Buying smart solutions: Technology is now part of (almost) every government purchase dlvr.it/SSk77q

23rd June 2022
UrgentComm

France preparing to launch public-safety broadband network, official says dlvr.it/SSh12p

23rd June 2022
UrgentComm

Newscan: Law-enforcement radios failed during Uvalde school mass shooting, Texas official says dlvr.it/SSf9vM

22nd June 2022

Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • Microwave/RF
  • T&D World
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X