tw telecom (News - Alert) delivers simple, scalable and cost effective managed Ethernet metro and nationwide WAN service—all based on Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) standards. It offers business Ethernet, data center connectivity, IPv6 solutions, network security and special access services.

Special access services are dedicated wirelines circuits that provide physical, point-to-point connections between customer locations and their chosen interexchange carrier’s wireline network. These dedicated circuits are capable of handling range of voice and data traffic and are typically used for “last mile connectivity” to a variety of customer locations.

A U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)) proposal to address the price of dedicated telecom and broadband lines for businesses would stop large telecom carriers from seeking new price flexibility but would not scrap the underlying rules that allow price deregulation.

The current FCC rules allow AT&T (News - Alert) and Verizon Communications to significantly overcharge for special access. The two carriers control about 80 percent of the special access market, which U.S. businesses rely on for broadband, for credit-card processing, for cash machines and other telecom services. Mobile carriers and competing telecom carriers use special access for backhaul.

According to Thomas Jones, a lawyer representing tw telecom, the order circulating at the FCC is a positive move in a seven-year effort to get the agency to reexamine price deregulation in the so-called special access market for business telecom services.

“This is a very welcome first step,” said Jones. “It is not the entire enchilada.”

The proposed FCC order would not go back and fix markets where special access prices have been deregulated, said Jones and other members of the NoChokesPoints Coalition, a group pushing for an FCC overhaul of special access pricing rules.

The NoChokePoints Coalition wants the FCC to scrap 1999 rules that allow large telecom carriers to seek price deregulation of special access services. The FCC approved the deregulation in anticipation of competition from smaller telecom carriers, but the competition never materialized, members of NoChokePoints said.

tw telecom, one of the biggest competitors to AT&T and Verizon (News - Alert) in the special access market, owns lines to about 16,000 of the estimated 3 million office buildings in the U.S., and is connecting to an additional 1,800 buildings a year.

It makes no sense to reregulate slow DS1 and DS3 connections when businesses and mobile carriers are switching to faster Ethernet services not covered by the FCC pricing rules, said Bob Quinn, AT&T's senior vice president for federal regulatory affairs. New regulation would hurt telecom carriers' ability to install faster fiber and Ethernet services, Quinn said.

The FCC proposal comes during a "difficult investment environment for wireline infrastructure," AT&T said in a Tuesday filing to the FCC. About 65 percent of businesses and other organizations now use Ethernet services, AT&T said.

Demand for DS1 and DS3 services are declining at a rate of 20 percent a year, but many businesses buy DS1 and DS3 lines because that's all they need, Boothby said. "That's the service that works," she said. "There's nobody watching movies over that network, and there's nobody gaming over that network."

NoChokePoints members questioned why AT&T is fighting against pricing changes if it sees DS1 and DS3 lines as obsolete technology. "If businesses are moving to Ethernet, then what are they so upset about?" said Maura Corbett, executive director of the coalition.

In the world of business Ethernet, tw telecom has been recognized as one of the top three business Ethernet providers in the U.S. Frost and Sullivan recognized tw telecom with its 2011 Carrier Ethernet Award for leadership and growth. Its business Ethernet solutions offer reliability and speed for the cloud, for healthcare systems and more.

To find out more about tw telecom visit the company at ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. For more information on registering for ITEXPO click here.

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