Clearing up disagreement over regulatory obligations, the FCC on Friday said the biggest local phone companies don’t have to make new fiber networks available to competitors under federal law.
The FCC said the incumbents’ obligations to lease networks to rivals under “unbundling” requirements, which are specified in Section 271 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, do not apply to fiber-to-the-home loops, fiber-to-the-curb loops, the packet function of hybrid copper-fiber loops and packet switching.
Federal regulators led by FCC Chairman Michael Powell have been taking steps to deregulate the high-speed Internet market for more than a year to help spur investment in advanced networks.
“By removing unbundling obligations for fiber-based technology, today’s decision holds great promise for consumers, the telecommunications sector and the American economy. The item eliminates barriers to companies that provide customers with an assortment of new services and applications ….,” Powell said in a statement Friday.
Telecommunications providers competing with the likes of BellSouth Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. have argued the biggest local phone companies known as the regional Bells are still obligated to share their networks under federal law. Section 271 of the 1996 Act required the Bells to open the local phone market to competition before they were allowed to enter the long-distance market.
In a statement Friday, FCC commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said the order does not provide sufficient market analysis to evaluate broadband competition around the country or the Bells’ ability to exercise market power for high-speed Internet service.
