Incompas Says 3-Year BDS Transition Needed; CCIA, Granite Also Seek Transitions
Incompas said business data service competitors will need at least a three-year transition if the FCC changes the BDS regulatory framework as proposed in a draft order tentatively set for an April 20 vote (see 1703300052). The Computer & Communications Industry Association called for a three-year delay in BDS rate hikes. "Carriers need time to adjust their business models to account for the loss of crucial wholesale last-mile inputs used to serve their customers and to build to the extent it is economically feasible," said an Incompas filing posted Wednesday in docket 05-25 on a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. The record doesn't support the draft's conclusions, particularly "the deficiencies in the competitive market test for DS1 and DS3 services and the blanket finding of competition for transport and Ethernet services," the filing said. "It is extraordinary for an agency to find a market competitive based on a duopoly let alone the mere potential for a duopoly, as is the case here." Incompas called the potential for competition "remote" and said "cable companies' own statements in the record contradict the idea" that they "will be imminent game changers in the market." It cited the importance of tech transitions protections, some of which would be eliminated by the draft BDS order and targeted for elimination by a draft FCC NPRM on wireline infrastructure also eyed for an April 20 vote (see 1704060046). A CCIA filing backed "a three-year delay in the implementation of BDS rate increases" and said the FCC should revise its competitive market test "to adequately consider the real offerings of providers." Granite Telecommunications voiced concern about draft BDS changes to a tech transition interim rule that requires ILECs to provide competitors a reasonable substitute when seeking to discontinue a "TDM-based commercial wholesale platform voice service" used as a wholesale input. The BDS draft "would abruptly end -- without any transition period -- this regulatory backstop without providing any evidence to support the conclusion that doing so would adequately preserve competition," said a Granite filing. "In the interest of compromise, Granite proposes that the Commission maintain the rule for a multi-year period (e.g., until December 31, 2019)." Verizon suggested the FCC allow "companies to adjust to detariffing while preserving existing contracts." Some "contract tariffs refer to or incorporate tariffed terms for special-access services. Some of those contracts do not contemplate detariffing," said a Verizon filing on a meeting with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai.