EarthLink: Bells Must Share Broadband Networks

EARTHLINK: BELLS MUST SHARE BROADBAND NETWORKS
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
In oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Internet service provider EarthLink said the Federal Communications Commission acted illegally by not forcing the Bell companies to share their broadband networks with competitors. The FCC ruled in 2004 to exempt Verizon, BellSouth, Qwest and what was then SBC Communications from a portion of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that generally requires such incumbent carriers to "unbundle," or share, certain broadband elements of their networks with potential new competitors. The law allows the FCC to grant "forbearance" from those requirements if it determines that governmental intervention isn't needed to ensure "just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory charges and practices," to protect consumers and to promote the public interest. Regulators are supposed to weigh the state of competition in the marketplace before coming to that conclusion. EarthLink lawyer Mark O'Connor built his arguments around the idea that federal regulators "failed to analyze the state of broadband in a rational manner." He said the FCC ignored the market analysis techniques suggested by federal law and, as a result, "unlawfully eradicated the rights of broadband competitors to serve the public." O'Connor also charged that the broadband market today is nothing more than a duopoly run by the Bells and cable companies and suggested a higher standard should be in place before exempting the Bells from their legal requirements.
http://news.com.com/EarthLink+Bells+must+share+broadband+networks/2100-1...