WASHINGTON, March 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Time Warner Telecom Inc., , a leading provider of managed voice and data networking solutions for businesses, today filed comments in rulemaking proceedings at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that impact the terms under which wireline telecommunications carriers, such as Time Warner Telecom, attach their networks to utility-owned telephone poles.
"The FCC should follow the majority of states that have adopted rate formulas and adopt rules implementing the tentative conclusion in the rulemaking proposal that a single pole attachment rate should apply to all service providers that compete in the market for broadband service," said Paul Jones, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Time Warner Telecom. "Poles, ducts, and conduits are an essential part of the modern information- age infrastructure. The public interest in encouraging the deployment of broadband facilities will be promoted by rules that assure competitive neutrality in pole attachment rates.
"The FCC's current pole attachment rules allow pole owners to charge telecommunications carriers pole attachment rates that are two-to-three times higher than the rates that pole owners charge cable operators. This is true even though the telecommunications carriers' attachments do not generally impose more costs than cable attachments and, indeed, where a telecommunications carrier leases fiber from a cable operator, the rates for the pole attachments supporting the fiber increase two-to-three times to the telecommunications rate even though the pole owner is completely unaffected by the change in usage," Jones said.
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 United States. 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.
