NCTA to FCC: Keep Interconnection Out of Disclosures
Cable operators have told the Federal Communications Commission to reject a request by network services provider Level 3 that the commission make information about congestion at interconnection points a requirement of its enhanced disclosure provisions of new Open Internet rules. In a filing during the week of Dec 21 with the FCC, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association ticked off the reasons it was ticked off by the proposal, which it characterized as erroneous and unwarranted. As part of the FCC's new rules, it is requiring Internet service providers (ISPs) to supply more information on their management of networks to consumers. The commission has yet to establish just what that will be, but its Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC) did not recommend interconnection info be in the reporting form.
Level 3's request that the form include information on retail service across interconnection points (broadband is a network of networks connected by free and paid peering agreements) is based on the argument that ISPs are the sole responsible party when it is an "indisputable fact that the conduct of both parties affects the performance experienced by the customer." The FCC has brought interconnection agreements for the first time under its Title II reclassification, under the argument that it is part of the virtuous circle ISPs could threaten. But it did not set bright-line rules, instead saying it would treat interconnection issues on a case-by-case basis. NCTA said that the FCC's decision not to put prescriptive regulations on interconnection and traffic exchanges or congestion "attributable to those arrangements" was a rejection of the argument Level 3 is making.