AT&T IP Transition Trial Proposal Panned for Vagueness, Potential Competitive Harm

"Wholesale access is vital and is the lynchpin for achieving the enduring value of competition,” said Comptel (http://bit.ly/1pEUxdK). AT&T’s proposal has “gaps and deficiencies” for wholesale consumers, the CLEC association said. The telco doesn’t identify any replacement products to allow AT&T’s wholesale customers to continue to effectively serve their end-user customers in an all-IP world, Comptel said. “AT&T is proposing to pull the foundation of business competition out from under the business market, without creating a replacement structure to protect business customers from seeing their choices dwindle and their prices climb."

Cbeyond, Integra Telecom, Level 3 and tw telecom said AT&T’s proposal (http://bit.ly/1pEYYp0) is missing “fundamental information that is necessary for meaningful review,” such as a proposed start date; what semi-fixed wireless business phone product businesses in the affected wire centers can transition to; or which IP replacement services will be made available for resale to wholesale customers. One of AT&T’s own executives said the proposal has “more questions than answers,” the CLECs said, quoting a Communications Daily interview with the president of AT&T Alabama (CD March 17 p7).

"The most pressing problem with AT&T’s proposal is its lack of detail regarding how it will meet its wholesale obligations during the trial,” and so how it will promote competition, said Granite Telecommunications (http://bit.ly/1lAvrxy). The CLEC last year worried that AT&T’s trial proposal could affect the market (CD April 18 p3). “Rhetoric” in AT&T’s application that “conveys its recognition of the importance of competition” hasn’t assuaged Granite’s concerns. “AT&T’s trial plan is at best vague and incomplete regarding wholesale replacement products and timeframes, Granite said, asking the FCC to require the telco provide “the missing information” within 60 days.

The Competitive Carriers Association had similar concerns (http://bit.ly/1lAvCJj). “After months of planning and preparation for the proposed IP-transition trial, the Proposal still lacks specific information regarding the wholesale IP replacement services that AT&T intends to offer during and after the proposed transition,” it said. It said the FCC should “direct AT&T to supplement its Proposal to provide the additional detail necessary to ensure that competitive carriers will continue to have adequate and efficient wholesale access and interconnection opportunities throughout the proposed trial and thereafter."

Sprint and T-Mobile said they worried AT&T’s experiment might further delay wholesale and intercarrier voice IP interconnection (http://bit.ly/1lAvHN1). Sprint supports AT&T’s efforts to retire its TDM network, but the proposed experiment “is putting the cart before the horse,” it said. “Many of the benefits of that transition will be lost if carriers do not first migrate their wholesale and intercarrier interconnections to IP. AT&T has proposed a long, complicated, and isolated experiment. Carriers should not have to wait for this experiment to finish before migrating their networks from TDM to IP or to interconnect in IP format with other carriers.” T-Mobile asked the commission to “move on rapidly from these trials” to resolve “important transition-related issues such as IP-to-IP interconnection” (http://bit.ly/1lAvVnn). Consumer and competitive benefits of the trials would be maximized by “avoiding unnecessary IP-TDM conversions,” T-Mobile said.

CenturyLink supported the trial proposal (http://bit.ly/1lAw9e5). It focuses on how to manage the “myriad” technical and logistical issues entailed with converting areas entirely to IP, while not “prejudging any of the various important legal and policy questions arising from the technology transitions,” the ILEC said. “It also appears to provide adequate supporting detail along the precise lines specified in the Technology Transitions Order for service-based experiment proposals."

State Concerns

Illinois and Michigan regulators criticized what they consider the limited scope of the tests in Alabama and Florida and said more data, including perhaps from more trials, should be collected before the FCC makes any decisions. “The two trials proposed are quite limited, calling into question whether they are sufficient to identify and apply lessons learned to larger urban markets and to the country as a whole,” wrote Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (http://bit.ly/1mxlsq3). “The trials will only affect 0.07 percent of the living units in AT&T’s service area, and only two of its 4700 wire centers.” The FCC should consider more broadly how consumers throughout the country are being affected by the IP transition, said Madigan, a Democrat.

The Michigan Public Service Commission (http://bit.ly/1pId3ju) said AT&T has said it’s working on solutions to those issues, but it hasn’t offered any. “Those issues need to be addressed and resolved before any permanent changes are made to the FCC rules,” MPSC said. It said the reliability and short lifespan of a battery for back-up service is a particular concern, and any trial should explore options to “provide more reliability of phone service in the event of an outage.” The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (http://bit.ly/1pIfUsR) said the FCC should examine whether battery packs provide adequate back-up power during prolonged commercial power interruptions during the trials.

The Texas 9-l-1 Alliance, Texas Commission on State Emergency Communications and Municipal Emergency Communication Districts Association urged (http://bit.ly/1i0F1Tu) thoroughly “vetting, vesting and conducting trials” of next-generation 911. “If additional time is needed to thoroughly vet, test, and conduct trials of NG9-l-l networks, then the affected parties should take the extra time before deciding any PSTN-to-IP transition issues that could have far-reaching impacts on public safety,” said the groups known collectively as the Texas 9-1-1 Entities. The FCC should have expedited NG 911 trials before any “formal binding decisions” on any issues with the IP transition, the filing said.

The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (http://bit.ly/1mIrWoY) said customers in trial areas not served by U-Verse, AT&T’s fiber triple-play package, would be served by wireless. NASUCA said it echoed Comptel in believing that AT&T should “actually propose replacement arrangements, test them, and prove their viability prior to discontinuance of established services."

The state agencies also contested AT&T assertions that VoIP should be considered a deregulated service. Noting AT&T said VoIP is an “information service,” PPUC said “AT&T cannot simply create “facts on the ground.” Madigan said IP-based phone service should be regulated the same as traditional landline service: “Its regulatory status and obligations should not change.”