Phone rivals seek to block broadband changes
By Brian Bergstein
Associated Press
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| David Lack, right, and Jeremy Dixon dig up part of Marietta Street in downtown Atlanta in preparation for laying fiber-optic cable. Under new broadband rules the FCC is expected to approve this week, phone companies may have the ability to keep new fiber-optic networks for themselves.
Associated Press |
The nation's big phone companies have grumbled for years that they'd be happy to provide that next-generation broadband — as soon as the government stops requiring them to let rivals lease access to their networks at artificially low prices.
Why should they invest in costly new fiber-optic networks, the argument goes, if someone else can come along and share the benefits?
Now, with the Federal Communications Commission rethinking reams of rules governing the industry, the phone companies are close to getting what they've asked for — the ability to keep new fiber-optic networks for themselves and sell access to them at market prices, according to people familiar with the process.
The FCC is expected to approve the new broadband rules this week. Several telecom industry sources said they expect the five commissioners to haggle down to the last minute over the details, such as how Bell competitors could use networks that combine new fiber-optic lines with older copper wires.
Broadband boosters say the decision could stimulate the economy by creating thousands of jobs and shaking the telecommunications industry out of its funk.
But consumer groups and Bell rivals counter that phone companies have often claimed to be just one rule change away from finally having the incentive or ability to provide next-generation services.
These opposition forces, which are expected to sue the FCC to block the new rules, say the Bells' real goal is not to pollinate America with fiber-optic broadband but rather to eliminate competition and boost profits.
The phone companies say they are more heavily regulated than cable companies, their main broadband rival, hindering their financial ability to bring digital phone lines, known as DSL, to more places, or to lay new fiber lines in residential areas for even faster speeds. (DSL now is carried by copper phone lines designed for voice traffic, a limited broadband technique.)
A recent report by the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a policy organization backed by the technology industry, said broadband deregulation could stimulate investment in new fiber lines for residential areas by $1.95 billion to $2.57 billion a year.
Supporters of the so-called "new rules for new wires" policy say it would be manna for struggling telecom equipment makers, encourage cable and rival phone companies to increase their own network upgrades and bring consumers such New Age benefits as "telemedicine" and "distance learning."
But don't expect to pull back your curtains and see ditch-diggers laying fiber to your home anytime soon.
Michael Goodman, senior analyst at The Yankee Group, expects phone companies to be selective about where they lay new fiber, opting first for new subdivisions and some places where old copper lines need upgrading.
"It's going to be a very long, drawn-out process," Goodman said. "You're not looking at five years down the road and everybody's going to have access to fiber."
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