SHLB Coalition says FCC’s special access proposal should adopt technology neutral regime

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler’s business data services proposal is facing opposition from the Schools, Health, Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition who say that the proposal needs to regulate Ethernet pricing, a key factor for its cash-strapped constituency.

A key point of content for SHLB is that Wheeler’s proposal only applies to TDM-based services. The organization has asked the FCC to consider developing a technology-neutral regulatory construct that takes into consider IP-based Ethernet and existing TDM services. “The record evidence shows that TDM and IP services are not two separate markets -- they are substitutable services,” SHLB Coalition said in a letter to the FCC. “The very first paragraph of the Commission’s Tech Transitions Order discusses how IP-networks are replacing TDM-based networks and calls for a “technology-neutral” policy. SHLB pointed out that “Ethernet services are sometimes delivered over TDM circuits illustrates the difficulty of establishing different regulatory rules for these two technologies.” Not surprisingly, a particular concern SHLB cites is service cost, which is a major issue organizations that reside in rural markets. Schools and rural anchor institutions in rural markets often are limited to just one provider, inhibiting their choice for competitively priced services.