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Law360 (March 23, 2020, 10:51 PM EDT) -- A trade group that represents small broadband providers pressed the Federal Communications Commission on Monday to rethink a controversial plan to retire competitive network-sharing rules, insisting that reliable broadband is more important than ever amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency is mulling a partisan proposal that would lift requirements that mandate so-called incumbent phone companies share their network infrastructure with smaller players to promote competition.
Champions of the rollback, including FCC's majority Republican leadership, wireless titans AT&T and Verizon, and trade group USTelecom, contend the 1990's-era regulations are outdated and disincentivize investment in next-generation networks.
However, trade association Incompas fired back Monday, arguing that this access to network infrastructure is critical to small, local broadband builders and their customers — including hospitals, schools, small businesses and families — which the organization said need affordable broadband access more than ever amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
"With so much dislocation and uncertainty, now is simply not the time to end the Bridge 2 Broadband," said Incompas CEO Chip Pickering in a statement Monday, referring to a moniker given to the network-sharing rules. "Every second the FCC's proposal hangs over the heads of America's fiber builders we are less safe, less prepared and not looking to the future."
"Now more than ever," he added, "America needs our internet services delivering fast connectivity and offering affordable service to help families, educators and medical professionals who are working under rapidly changing circumstances."
Incompas, a consistent, vocal opponent of the proposal, published Monday's statement in tandem with its latest comment against the plan. The group warned that cutting off broadband access will send prices sky-high, interfere with 911 services, delay 5G build-outs and eliminate the only internet service available in many rural communities across the country.
USTelecom declined to comment on Incompas' statement. However, in its latest comments on the FCC initiative, the trade group that includes Verizon and AT&T as its members said that objections to rolling back the regulations "arise from the desire of certain companies to continue benefiting from access to incumbent networks at below-market rates rather than legitimate concerns about competition."
A spokesperson for USTelecom did, however, emphasize Monday that the group and its members are committed to keeping Americans connected during the pandemic.
Earlier this month, USTelecom endorsed the FCC's Keep Americans Connected Pledge, in which providers have promised to keep up service for customers even if their accounts become delinquent, waive late payment fees and open Wi-Fi hotspots to anyone who needs them during the coronavirus outbreak.
A spokesperson for the FCC declined to comment.
Agency leadership voted to move the deregulation proposal forward on party lines in November and is now seeking input from stakeholders. While reply comments were due March 20, Incompas said in its filing that due to the disruptions caused by COVID-19, "the member companies were not all able to focus attention on comments prior to the reply deadline," and the group "will thus continue to supplement the record."
--Additional reporting by Kelcee Griffis, Christopher Cole and Andrew Kragie. Editing by Michael Watanabe.
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