Incompas, Upstarts Urge FCC to Retain UNE Access, Cite 'Natural Forbearance' as Copper Retired
Telco competitors made their case for the FCC to retain regulated wholesale access to incumbent local loop and interoffice-transport lines despite a USTelecom forbearance petition seeking ILEC relief from requirements to lease out the connections as discounted unbundled network elements…
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and related resale services. The UNEs and resale services "are critical" to competitor ability "to serve consumers and facilitate fiber deployment," said an Incompas filing on a meeting it and 13 upstart providers had with Wireline Bureau staffers, posted Monday in docket 18-141. "Many of the providers utilize unbundled bare copper DS0 loops to provide residential and business customers with voice and data services. ... Access to UNEs such as DS0, DS1, and enhanced extended loops ('EELs') also allows [CLECs] to serve underserved rural and urban areas, including areas where the CLEC is the only available broadband provider." The filing said there are "no economically viable alternatives" to UNE interoffice dark fiber transport to serve rural markets, and cited a "lack of special access or commercial alternatives for certain UNEs." The competitors said existing rules allow "a natural elimination of unbundling obligations" as ILECs retire copper. They said USTelecom's proposed delay in eliminating UNE access until February 2021 "falls woefully short" of giving competitors sufficient time to transition to alternatives: "Rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all timeframe ... the Commission should adhere to the 'natural forbearance' under its current rules. In markets where ILECs have completed copper retirement, they gain full relief from DS0 unbundling obligations. In markets where ILECs have yet to discontinue copper, CLECs should be able to retain access to UNEs." That would ensure CLECs can continue providing consumers in underserved areas competitive alternatives to ILEC copper services, they said.