The FCC has approved the mandatory data request for the carrier wholesale and broadband for business markets. This is a step towards addressing the market failure known as special access, which involves the rates American businesses pay the largest telecommunications carriers for broadband connections to the Internet. For many years, the FCC has been discussing reforms to deal with the inflated, monopolistic rates that are an impediment to innovation, investment and jobs and we appreciate this step.
The following comments can be attributed to Computer & Communication Industry Association Vice President Cathy Sloan:
“This FCC action will at last expose a long-standing vestige of monopoly in the telecom world that must be dealt with so that American businesses are no longer held hostage to a complex web of inflated rates for wired broadband connections with unreasonable and anticompetitive terms and conditions”.
“No American business large or small, service or manufacturing, should be held hostage to market failure in critical telecom inputs where there are no competitive alternatives they can actually migrate their traffic to.
“This initiative on business broadband could lead to increased competitiveness for American businesses in the global economy by producing significant savings for both mid-sized companies and Fortune 500 companies.”