Copyright 2004 Warren Publishing, Inc.

TELECOM A.M.

July 1, 2004, Thursday

From Lexis Nexis

With the FCC considering several proceedings on broadband services, Verizon asked the Commission to treat broadband offered over fiber-to-the-premises the same as a cable modem service.

Verizon said the FCC had yet to decide on the appropriate regulatory treatment of telephone company broadband. But it noted the FCC had decided in March 2002 that cable modem services weren’t subject to the key common carrier rules and it allowed cable companies to provide service to Internet service providers on individually negotiated terms.

Verizon said while the U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, subsequently overturned one part of that decision classifying cable modem as an information service, it left those other aspects of the order in effect.

“By clarifying even on an interim basis that the same rules that apply to cable modem service will apply to telephone company broadband services, the FCC can help fulfill its own and President Bush’s vision by removing regulations that ‘defeat the goal of spreading broadband,'” said Verizon Senior VP-Federal Regulatory Affairs Susanne Guyer.