FISPA Warns ISPs About BOC Filings

FISPA has joined the chorus of organizations warning ISPs that petitions submitted by the Bells could permanently drive ISPs out of broadband.

by ISP-Planet Staff [November 23, 2004]

Peter Radizeski has a long track record with the Bells. His website, Rad-Info, is a telecommunications reseller focusing on small ISP businesses. And he's worried he might be out of a job soon.

Talking about petitions submitted by the Bells shortly after President Bush's re-election, he says, "[the BOCs] are throwing everything they have against the wall and hoping some of it will stick."

What the BOCs appear to hope will stick is their permanent ownership of broadband and the copper infrastructure. The filings can be read in their entirety on the Web page of the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau. BellSouth's, dated November 3, 2004, is WC docket number 04-405, and BellSouth's, dated November 5, 2004, is WC docket number 03-235. (Verizon also filed, CC docket number 01-338, and Qwest filed WC docket number 03-260.)

Radizeski urges ISPs to file comments with the FCC through its Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS). Click on "Submit a Filing" in the upper right hand corner of the page, and you can type your comments or submit a file.

Radizeski says that ISPs should write up their comments before submitting them, and make sure they're professional. He says that ISPs need to file because the BOCs are filing lies and distortions.

Whereas the Bells argue that there is true multimodal competition with powerline and fixed wireless broadband, they also note that DSL has 34 percent of the small business market while cable has 66 percent of the market, undermining the multimodal argument.

He says the Bells mention that some ISPs have private carriage arrangements with cable companies, but fail to mention that all private carriage arrangements are with Time Warner and were mandated by the FCC as a condition of the AOL-Time Warner merger.

Of course, the list of untruths and distortions goes on.

FISPA convened a conference call to deal with the issue. Radizeski is on the FISPA committee that handles legal issues, and solicited advice from many in the ISP community including Frank Muto (see Your Free Washington Bureau For ISP Advocacy) and Fred Goldstein (see The Bottom Line is Competition).

We have written about this problem before, and the problem remains. If ISPs do not contact the FCC, they cannot complain about the rules that are made in their absence.

So far, the following ISPs have filed in response to Bell South's 03-235 petition: EarthLink, AT&T, MCI, Z-Tel, the Promoting Active Competition Everywhere (PACE) Coalition, CompTel/Ascent, and Covad. Even Sprint, which has ILEC operations of its own and was considered in the TRO to be a nationwide ILEC, has filed against the BOC petitions.

The list of companies replying to docket number 01-338 is not much longer, although there are 4,538 documents regarding that docket.

To read all the comments, simply go to the Comments Search page and type in the docket number.

So do it. Go to the Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS). Click on "Submit a Filing" in the upper right hand corner of the page, and type your comments or submit a file.

Anyone can file, as evidenced by e-mail submissions from private citizens such as Craig Windland, Robert S. Lee, Arthur J. O'Connell, and the more articulate Justin Hannah. When you file, remember to state the area you serve and who you are.

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