FTTH Council Applauds FCC

WASHINGTON -- The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council today praised the Federal Communications Commission's UNE Triennial Review Order as the "most significant and important regulatory document in the country's telecommunications history," according to Mike DiMauro, the FTTH Council's president. "This is exactly the kind of decisive and clear broadband guidance that the beleaguered telecommunications industry has been in such desperate need of," continued DiMauro. The FCC's ruling removes FTTH networks from the so-called "unbundling" rules, which require ILECs to lease facilities to competitors at below-market rates.

"The broadband rules are brilliant," added Dan Tatarka, co-chairman of the Council's Government Relations Committee. "The FCC has skillfully crafted a structure that encourages facilities-based broadband investment, without disadvantaging any particular group. They are clearly putting the consumer first so that everyone wins," Tatarka continued. "In fact, one of the things I find most pleasing is the FCC's acknowledgment that the national adoption of FTTH is of paramount importance to our country's economic viability. This is a theme you can see over and over again."

According to FCC Commission Chairman Michael Powell the Order will "create a broadband regulatory regime that will stimulate and promote deployment of next-generation infrastructure, bringing a bevy of new services and applications to consumers. I have long stated that broadband deployment is the most central communications policy objective of our day."

"Without a doubt, 2004 will be the year for FTTH," added DiMauro. "Electronics prices have continued to drop, there is significant RFP activity in the industry, and the FCC has now removed the single largest disincentive to FTTH investment. It is no wonder that we are experiencing an unprecedented amount of interest in our upcoming FTTH Conference (October 7-9, 2003 in New Orleans)."

According to the new rules, ILECs are not required to unbundle any portion of a "greenfield" or new FTTH network. For overbuild situations, the ILECs have two options. Where the ILEC keeps a parallel copper network, the FTTH network will be free from UNE regulation. However, should the ILEC choose to retire the copper network, then the ILEC is required to provide a 64 kb/s narrowband transmission path to the requesting carrier.

Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council