LITTLETON, Colo., Oct. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Time Warner Telecom , a leading provider of voice, Internet and data networking solutions to businesses, today filed an appeal in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals of the FCC's October 11th partial grant of the AT&T forbearance petition concerning business broadband services. The appeal was filed on the grounds that the FCC Order violated the conditions of previous FCC approvals for the AT&T/BellSouth merger and that the Commission erroneously granted wholesale broadband special access relief based on analysis only of the retail market.
"The retail and wholesale markets are separate and distinct," explained Paul Jones, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Time Warner Telecom. "Section 10 of the '96 Act requires that the FCC analyze whether the application of dominant carrier regulation to the services specified by AT&T in its petition continues to be necessary to ensure that charges and practices with respect to those services are just and reasonable. At the very least, that analysis requires that the FCC identify the correct product market."
"Time Warner Telecom has always championed innovation for enterprise customers and was the first to offer nationwide and metro Ethernet services to enterprises," Jones said. "Over the past decade we have built powerful fiber networks in 75 markets and across the country to meet the growing needs of enterprises and to deliver them the benefits of lower total costs of owning the network with converged network services and Ethernet-based solutions. These solutions deliver businesses faster, more scalable transmission speeds, greater network flexibility and improved capabilities for growth that the large, monopolistic incumbents do not have the incentive to provide."
One of the merger conditions prohibits AT&T from seeking any forbearance that would diminish or supersede their obligations mandated by any other merger condition. "We believe the Forbearance Order does just that, specifically with respect to the condition that required Ethernet tariff prices to be reduced by 15%," Jones added. "Since AT&T clearly continued to seek forbearance from regulation of Ethernet services, the FCC should have rejected their petition outright as a violation of the relevant merger condition."
About Time Warner Telecom
Time Warner Telecom Inc., headquartered in Littleton, Colo., provides managed network services, specializing in Ethernet and transport data networking, Internet access, local and long distance voice, VoIP and security, to enterprise organizations and communications services companies throughout the U.S. As a leading provider of integrated and converged network solutions, Time Warner Telecom delivers customers overall economic value, quality, service, and improved business productivity. Please visit http://www.twtelecom.com/ for more information.
