FCC Seeks Comment on Framework to Advance Competition in the Business Data Services Market (Special Access)

The Federal Communications Commission jumpstarted the process of protecting and advancing competition in the $45 billion market for business data services, also known as special access. The item adopted by the Commission seeks broad public comment on reforming and modernizing its rules based on four principles:

1. Competition is best, but where competition does not exist, market conditions must not be allowed to stifle the ability of business customers to innovate and compete
2. Technological neutrality should be at the core of any new regulatory framework.
3. Policies should remove barriers to the transition to new technologies.
4. Rules should be crafted to meet the needs of both today’s and tomorrow’s marketplace.

The item includes an Order resolving an investigation of existing special access tariffs filed by four major telecommunications companies, known as incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs): AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink and Frontier. The Order finds that certain terms and conditions of these tariffs were unjust and unreasonable, and had the effect of decreasing facilities-based competition and inhibiting the transition to new technologies. These companies will be required to withdraw the illegal terms of these tariffs and file new tariffs within 60 days of release of the Order. A Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeks to replace the existing, fragmented and outdated rules with a new technology-neutral framework that classifies markets as either non-competitive or as competitive. Where competition is lacking, the Further Notice asks about the specific rules necessary to advance it.