AT&T Under FCC Investigation For Prices
FCC has started to investigate against AT&T and Verizon.
On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission initiated the procedure of investigating the prices that a number of companies charge for offering certain information services. So called "special access" facility (primarily transmitted through copper) is bought by wireless service providers, including Sprint Corporation, which has alleged the sellers of monopolistic charging and terms.
Special access linkages are also utilized by "small businesses, government offices, hospitals, medical offices, schools, libraries, ATMs, and credit card readers", the commission stated.
AT&T news exclaimed that the order to investigate the issue is only concerned with distinctive access lines that utilize older time-division multiplexing technology which is yet subjected to charge regulation and tariff needs, unlike broadband facilities and new enterprise offerings. This tends to cover a market greater than $20,000,000,000 per annum.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association appreciated the regulator’s inquiry by stating, “Almost every American relies upon these high-capacity, ‘special access,’ broadband lines each day—usually without even knowing it, But the only thing ‘special’ about them is that the two biggest providers ‘lock-up’ their customers into long-term, exorbitant contracts, preventing them from seeking alternative choices and using innovative new products."
AT&T News today reported that the FCC was gathering information regarding special access before determining whether to conduct an extensive inquiry. The regulatory body believes that the record in the proceedings tend to raise enough queries regarding the legality of specific conditions and terms contained in particular special access tariff charging plans proposed by Verizon Communications, Frontier, and Century Link to guarantee their investigation.
Sellers with special access basically have local monopolies in different areas where there is no competition and presumably use their market influence to lock purchasers into agreements. The investigation process would concentrate in part on "percentage commitments" that latch purchasers into levels of procurement "rang[ing] from 80% to 95% of the buyer’s previous purchase levels", the FCC stated.
AT&T Breaking News disclosed that these agreements supposedly compel buyers to keep purchasing the older TDM facilities, making it difficult to upgrade to IP-based data facilities and fiber. The US telecomm industry association, protecting Verizon Communications and AT&T, stated that cable companies do not face analogous regulation in provision of enterprise data facilities.
Carriers that purchase from Verizon, AT&T, and others, are interested in the continuation of the investigation. FCC previously took action against AT&T when it was fined for strangling unlimited data connections. The progress of the investigation would be appreciated by the telecommunication service provider’s rivals.
