|
An FCC proposal to expand so-called Form 477 reporting of broadband deployments is not sitting well with some service providers.
That form, on which telecom carriers began reporting in March 2000, records the number of zip codes in each state in which a company has at least one broadband subscriber line. A separate form is required for each state.
The Commission in its proposed rule expanding the information gathering says it wants to "develop more fully our understanding of deployment and the availability of broadband services and development of local competition."
But Bill McCloskey, director of media relations for BellSouth Corp., says, "We think the information we are already giving them is quite enough. Anything more would be even more proprietary and damage our competitive position."
"This would be a pretty significant change," adds another industry source who declines to be identified.
Michael Balmoris, a spokesman for the FCC, says any new data that is collected will remain confidential, just as the current data is.
The 1996 Telecommunications Act dictated collection of the information, which the FCC uses both internally--for example, to judge whether an ILEC has opened its broadband system to CLECs as part of the ILEC's 271 application to provide long-distance telephone service--and in reports to Congress. But in the proposed rule the FCC issued on Jan. 19, it said the data it collects--there have been two reports due so far--has been of limited value.
When Form 477 first was proposed in 1999, AT&T Corp. opposed it. Ma Bell said it would prefer that the FCC "rely on the use of targeted information gathering requests whenever there is a specific issue that needs to be addressed."
Companies such as BellSouth and Bell Atlantic supported use of Form 477 but fought to prevent the FCC from asking for the number of broadband subscriber lines in each zip code, as opposed to in each state, which is the current format. BellSouth argued that providing zip code-level information "would render the information proprietary and would therefore require carriers to report it as confidential."
As a compromise, companies have to note zip codes in which they have at least one subscriber, but not the total subscribers in that zip code.
But in the new rule proposal, the FCC opened the door to reporting not only the actual number of subscriber lines in each zip code but also the number of homes and businesses in each zip code who have access to broadband. Also, instead of requiring reporting for the current two categories, residential/small business and institutions/large business, the FCC proposed breaking the first category into two separate ones, for a total of three categories.
The FCC also left open the possibility that it would require companies to divulge the types of broadband technologies they are using in each zip code, and their pricing policies.
Jim McGann, a spokesman for AT&T, says his company has no comment on the proposed changes.
Terri Natoli, vice president for regulatory affairs and public policy at CLEC Teligent, Inc., thinks the broadband information collected by the FCC is important. Teligent has filed Form 477s for the most part voluntarily because it does not meet the mandatory threshold of 250 lines per state in most states.
But Teligent opposes breaking out the data into a separate small business category. "Our systems are not designed to record that kind of information," Natoli says. Teligent opposes reporting number of lines in service per zip code. But the company would support totaling the number of customers in each zip code who have access to broadband.
|
