USTelecom Extending Time Telcos Couldn't Raise UNE Rates Satisfies Windstream, Not Others
USTelecom companies, in a deal with member Windstream, changed a proposal so that it would now increase by almost twice the amount of time telcos wouldn't be able to raise prices for unbundled network element connections that competitors can use to reach their own customers. Other telecom companies using such UNEs weren't swayed by the association's changed FCC forbearance proposal posted Friday in docket 18-141, after the past version drew a letter of protest earlier last week to leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee from companies including Windstream. With the changes, Windstream is now on board. Incompas remains concerned, its chief told us.
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USTelecom in May sought 18 months before the companies would be freed of rate regulation implemented by the FCC under the Telecom Act, and rival phone-service providers said an immediate 15 percent hike in prices to other companies would have been allowed under that plan (see 1805040016). That drew lots of opposition and requests for more time for comments (see 1805210049), which the FCC partly granted (see 1805290029). Now, the association said that "no price increases on unbundled network elements could occur before February 4, 2021." The new plan "reflects the experience and planning of the purchasers and sellers of the great majority of unbundled network elements" and "would provide certainty important to service providers and for network planning," the group said. Its officials didn't comment further. The Wireline Bureau is evaluating the filing, said a spokesperson.
The earlier proposal with its "immediate 15 percent price increase" and 18-month transition "would have been devastating for" CLECs and customers, blogged Windstream CEO Tony Thomas Friday. After talks since last month's petition with USTelecom and "big telcos" that "were occasionally tense," he said, "cooler heads prevailed. "This is not a perfect deal, but we were able to reach an agreement that benefits all sides." The telco is an ILEC and CLEC, its chief noted, describing UNEs as "cabling that competitors may access under current rules to enter a market in a cost-effective way." He couldn't comment to us Friday, a spokesperson said.
The latest development of "incumbent providers cutting a deal with each other still leaves the customers of competition out in the cold, and the deployment of new fiber networks at risk particularly in rural areas," said Incompas CEO Chip Pickering. "The USTelecom petition still means significant broadband price hikes." Others that told the FCC of their concerns had no immediate comment. Signing the new USTelecom filing were among its members: AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, Verizon and Windstream.
Some Incompas members fear increases on the scale of 300 percent on the fees to use incumbent telcos' legacy copper networks to provide services like broadband and other data products, starting in February 2021, Pickering said in an interview. The deregulation USTelecom seeks could "lead to unlimited price increases, a return to monopolies in many markets," he said. The new pact "represents none of the competitive industry," Pickering said. "This is just one side of the industry making an agreement for that side."
Access to UNE infrastructure and broadband connections boosts choices for customers, competitors on Tuesday wrote Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla. "Cutting off competitors’ access to critical network elements in key areas dramatically reduces the pool of customers in each market, reducing competitive investment incentives. This also creates an incumbent incentive for milking money from old, outdated lines rather than investing in new fiber deployment." The letter's signers included Fusion, Uniti Fiber and Zayo. Friday, those companies declined to comment.