For Immediate Release
Monday, September 14, 1998
Contact: Bruce Kushnick New Networks Institute (212) 777-5418 internot@interport.net[Washington, D.C.] In comments filed today with the FCC, New Networks Institute (NNI) shows that the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) reneged on promised delivery of "advanced telecommunications capabilities" to the American public and do not now deserve any additional regulatory benefits for repetition of those same empty promises. NNI argues that the stated aims of the FCC -- speedy deployment of high-speed data networks (including xDSL technologies), innovative service offerings, and competitive pricing -- would be accomplished by assuring all competitors have equal access to the copper local loop.
The ILECs have claimed that they are uniquely positioned to deliver high-speed communications nationally and they argue for removal of regulatory burdens that keep them from undertaking the most rapid deployment of advanced networks. However, in its filing, NNI demonstrates "that any such argument is completely bogus and should be totally and unequivocally rejected."
The monopoly in local telecommunications still exists. Incentives in such an environment cannot be strong enough to override the ILECs motive for short-term profit. The NNI filing makes this point emphatically: "The additional money that the RBOCs were logically able to obtain in this relaxed regulatory environment was supposed to go to deploy the "network of the future." Incredibly, however, the RBOCs were permitted to earn and keep the money with no accountability for whether they actually built the new, improved network they promised."
The NNI filing also demonstrates that in the present, still-monopolized local exchange market, the RBOCs' powerful urge to protect their monopoly position means that, left to their own devices, they will be strongly motivated to impede and delay the deployment of advanced telecommunications capabilities. Consequently, Bruce Kushnick of NNI calls on the FCC to "establish specific, objective deployment requirements for the RBOCs while simultaneously strengthening enforcement of the pro- competitive obligations imposed on the RBOCs by Section 251 of the Communications Act."
These comments were filed with The FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CC Docket 98-146)
Comments of New Networks Institute in response to a Notice of Inquiry, dated August 6, 1998. In the matter of inquiry concerning the deployment of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion, and possible steps to accelerate such deployment pursuant to section 706 of the telecommunications act of 1996.
The filing by NNI was supported in filings by several other groups and individuals including Fair Telecom and Tele-Publishing, Inc. The complete filing is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.newnetworks.com. The FCC Notice of Inquiry can be downloaded from http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/706/
The New Networks Institute ("NNI") was founded in 1992. Its mission is to explore - on a totally independent basis - the impact of the break-up of AT&T and the creation of the Regional Bell Operating Companies ("RBOCs") on telephone subscribers in general and on the deployment of new and advanced telecommunications networks. Since that time, the NNI has conducted extensive research on these topics. Titled "The Future of the Information Age," this seven-year analysis consists of over 1,900 pages in 14 volumes, with over 910 exhibits, two computer databases, and data from more than 2,000 consumer interviews, (conducted independently through Fairfield Research). The report series publishers include Phillips Business Information and Probe Research.
Recently updated, this research in the form of a new book by Bruce Kushnick, "The Unauthorized Biography of the Baby Bells: Info-Scandal" will be published on September 28, 1998.
Bruce Kushnick has been a telecommunications analyst for over a decade including Senior Telecom Analyst for Link Resources, 1985-1987, and President of Strategic Telemedia, 1988-1992. His clients included all of the Regional Bells, all the major long distance carriers, and a host of other companies, from American Express to The Weather Channel.
# # #
Back to New Networks Institute home page