Competitive telecom and ISP providers urged all 100 senators to o...

and ISPs asked senators to retain regulatory requirements on Bell companies. Letter borrowed theme of recent telecom lobbying: regulatory changes in telecom can have big effect on economy. Recent Bell lobbying has said FCC must change unbundled network element platform (UNE-P) pricing or eliminate some UNEs to jump-start ILEC investment, but letter from CLECs said such regulatory changes would damage economy. Proposed legislation and FCC rule changes would “alter the existing procompetitive regulatory framework and cost jobs, hurt consumers and damage the national economy,” it said. Letter said that while Breaux-Nickles probably wouldn’t be reported from Senate Commerce Committee this year, “it is possible that its supporters might try to find a different way to move it forward in the waning days of this Congress.” Letter portrayed drastic consequences for CLECs should Breaux- Nickles type of regulatory changes occur. “Simply put, Breaux-Nickles is dramatic and harsh,” letter said: “The Breaux-Nickles bill, and its FCC analogs, would fatally wound competitors by depriving them of the ability to offer broadband.” Letter twice mentions recent announcement by Verizon to bundle local and long distance voice and broadband services at discounted prices, saying rule changes that prevented competitors from offering similar bundles was “tantamount to picking winners and losers.” It said Breaux- Nickles bill ignored monopoly legacy of Bells that posed barriers to competition. “'Parity,’ Breaux-Nickles style, allows the Bells to pull the plug on companies that have none of these advantages, lack a network built with ratepayer funds that reaches every home and office and have no market power to leverage,” letter said. It also said Breaux-Nickles would preempt state regulators from overseeing broadband rollout, including consumer protection efforts. NARUC, NASUCA and Consumers Union “strenuously oppose” bill, letter said. Up to 77,000 CLEC jobs could be lost, in addition to $65 billion in investments, should Breaux-Nickles style approach be adopted, it said. Letter also said recent FCC proposals would “usurp” Congress’ authority by redefining services as “information services,” which wouldn’t fall under Telecom Act, as opposed to “telecommunications services” that were under Telecom Act authority. Such changes could affect universal service because information services aren’t required to contribute to universal service fund, letter said. FCC proposals to reduce list of UNEs could “render useless the advance network of facilities deployed by competitors and eliminate competition for local telecom and Internet services.” Companies predicted that such changes would slow rollout of broadband because loss of competition would make Bells less likely to deploy new services, especially considering low take rate for broadband subscriptions now, letter said. CLEC letter signers included Allegiance Telecom, Covad Communications, EarthLink. Letter contrasted recent one from 104 House members to FCC that urged agency to change pricing structure for UNE-P. Thast letter, whose signers included House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) and ranking Democrat Dingell (Mich.), said Bell companies were losing money on UNE-P, which was stifling investment in telecom market.