FCC Targets Wireline Broadband/Telco Reseller Deregulation for Nov. 19 Vote

The FCC released drafts of rules to modernize unbundling and resale requirements for LECs. Commissioners tentatively will vote at their Nov. 19 meeting. The agency proposes removing requirements for ILECs to unbundle network elements including DS1 and DS3 loops that made them available for resale to competitive LECs, in counties and study areas deemed competitive. It would exempt from the new rules DS1 loops used to provide residential broadband and voice in rural areas, says an NPRM for docket 19-308. The proposal would eliminate unbundling and resale requirements for DS0 loops in urban census blocks, narrowband voice-grade loops, and dark fiber transport in wire centers within a half-mile of alternative fiber. A three-year transition is proposed for existing customers. It asks for comments on whether to add a six-month transition to allow new orders. Incompas said protecting facilities-based broadband competitors is essential to the 5G future. "Smaller local broadband builders beat back AT&T’s forbearance petition and will fight the telecom giants’ ongoing efforts to raise prices and prevent new competitive deployment," CEO Chip Pickering emailed Tuesday. “The FCC has had an all-of-the-above approach to broadband deployment, which includes fixing the maps, USF reform and the removal of local monopoly barricades. But knocking out the bridge to broadband makes it harder to achieve these goals, as smaller local builders will be cut off from new customers." The commission says it "adjusted its unbundling and resale obligations to reflect the realities of the evolving communications marketplace and to encourage incumbent and competitive LECs alike to invest in next-generation facilities." The agency proposes to maintain existing unbundling of mass market broadband-capable loops in rural areas, acknowledging "there remains a digital divide between urban areas, which boast increasing numbers of intermodal broadband providers, and rural areas." UNE DS1 loops would remain available for residential broadband and voice service in rural census blocks, and the agency asked for confirmation that DS3 loops aren't generally used for residential consumers. The agency would seek comment on its view that "cable providers will build out to the remaining urban census blocks in the near future" and CLECs will upgrade urban networks.