[10691] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: CCN's Clarification re: Internet Local Loop
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Miles R Fidelman)
Sat Mar 5 20:20:16 1994
Date: Sat, 5 Mar 1994 11:44:17 -0500 (EST)
From: Miles R Fidelman <fidelman@civicnet.org>
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <m0pcRn7-000I7vC@crynwr>
On Thu, 3 Mar 1994, Russell Nelson wrote:
> I would say that the local loop is pretty much a natural monopoly. However,
> the central office does NOT need to be a monopoly. Rearrange the tariffs
> so that competitors can co-locate in central offices, and level the playing
> field. The baby bells will win (of course) out of momentum, and they'll
> be happier when us whiners have gone away to the competition and they can
> ignore the data market.
>
> Co-location is NOT a problem because switches have gotten smaller and
> smaller. Every central office has plenty of room to spare. So, don't
> let the baby bells say that co-location won't work because there isn't
> the physical room.
Exactly! In fact the good news is that the long distance carriers, the
cellular companies, and the new PCS wireless players all share the same
interest here. The major issue is unbundling access to the local loop.
Right now, there are co-location tariffs that allow anyone to rent space,
and to tie into central office switches. But... that requires paying for
a lot of things that one may not need -- i.e. if all you want is access to
the piece of copper running from the central office to an end user, being
forced to pay for a piece of the central office switch adds a lot to the
price.
Both the Markey and Hollings bills call for unbundling the co-location
tariffs - so that one will be able to buy access to just those pieces of
the local loop that one wants to. This is something we should all be
supporting.
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Miles R. Fidelman mfidelman@civicnet.org
Executive Director 91 Baldwin St. Charlestown MA 02129
The Center for Civic Networking 617-241-9205 fax: 617-241-5064
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Information Infrastructure: Public Spaces for the 21st Century
Let's Start With: Internet Wall-Plugs Everywhere
Then We Can Worry About: "Switched, Interactive, Broadband Services"
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