Ill. Commerce Comr. Terry Harvill accused SBC of trying to confus...

CEO Edward Whitacre. In letter, Whitacre complained that an ICC policy requiring SBC’s Ameritech unit to open DSL-capable remote loop carrier terminals to DSL line-sharing competitors had made DSL service into such a money loser that Ameritech was forced to halt deployment of DSL network upgrades and stop selling retail DSL. Harvill said SBC was “attempting to obfuscate the issues” by implying ICC acted unlawfully and was out of touch with current policy trends. He said ICC’s action was legal and consistent with current policy of FCC and other states -- namely, that DSL line sharing should apply to customers served with hybrid fiber-copper loop carrier systems as well as to customers with all-copper loops connected directly to their central office. Harvill said Whitacre’s position against line sharing over loop carrier systems “would effectively eliminate the obligation to line share.” He also said Whitacre’s “chilling” portrayal of the ICC decision as turning Ill. into a technology backwater without broadband services revealed that Ameritech “controls the market so completely that it alone can determine whether more than one million customers in Illinois will ever have access to broadband services.” As Congress considers broadband policy issues, Harvill suggested FCC and state rulings be used as template for national policy that would provide technology deployment incentives and opportunity for “unfettered” broadband competition.