Wheeler Proposes Tech-Neutral Special Access Approach

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler wants special access service regulation to be tech neutral, whether it is being provided by incumbent telcos (ILECs), competitive telcos (CLECs) or cable operators, and he has the reform framework ready to roll—it was circulated to the other commissioners April 7.

The goal is to promote more competition, competition, competition (the chairman’s mantra) for business services, which could include price regulation on cable service where it does not face competition.

Special access lines are dedicated connections used by businesses and institutions to deliver voice and data traffic, including for ATMs and credit card transactions. The regs have been applied to the larger ILECs—Verizon, AT&T,, CenturyLink and Frontier—but the chairman thinks they should apply across the board where more competition is needed. FCC officials speaking not for attribution signaled the FCC had concluded there was more competition in high-bandwidth (above 50 meg) services and less in low-band.

Link to article is HERE.