[1st-mile-nm] Jim Baller Posting
Marianne Granoff
granoff at zianet.com
Tue Jan 15 12:07:44 PST 2008
Link is at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-279231A1.pdf
Marianne
At 01:00 PM 1/15/2008 -0700, Michael Orshan wrote:
>Interesting. I've been meaning to send this. New Mexico is last.
>
>The FCC recently released their annual "Local Telephone Competition" report,
>which offers insight into the competition for local telephone service
>through 2006. The numbers weren't terribly surprising. CLECs continue to
>lose market share for local loops, and as of December 2006, provided 17.1%
>of the 167.5 million local access loops in the U.S. That percentage is down
>from December 2005's number of 17.9%. According to the FCC's numbers, CLECs
>peaked with 19.1% of local access loops in June 2005. Of course local loops
>are declining in general, thanks primarily to wireless substitution. There
>were 175.1 million local loops in December 2005, compared to December 2006's
>167.5 million. RBOCs continued forbearance efforts, where they attempt to
>escape competitive mandates, aren't helping either. CLECs highest
>penetration of local loops occurred in Rhode Island (46%) and lowest
>penetration occurred in New Mexico (8%). Even though it's a year old, this
>FCC report provides a wealth of information about local telephone
>competition and includes extensive data about ILECs, CLECs, and wireless
>carriers.
>
>Michael Orshan
>www.marsound.com
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at crank.dcn.davis.ca.us
>[mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces at crank.dcn.davis.ca.us] On Behalf Of Richard
>Lowenberg
>Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 12:48 PM
>To: 1st-mile-nm at crank.dcn.davis.ca.us
>Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Jim Baller Posting
>
>Last week, I posted a critique from Public Knowledge, of the Connect
>Kentucky and Connected Nation broadband initiatives. There's been some
>back and forth exchange on this, online. Jim Baller, a leading telecom.
>lawyer, posted the following, yesterday. He takes a most intelligent
>position in his conclusion. (There is a link to the Baller/Herbst Law
>Firm web site on the 1st-Mile web site's Resources page.)
>rl
>-----
>
>AMERICAs GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS
>
>Many of you have asked me to comment on
> the controversy surrounding ConnectKentucky/
> Connected Nation. Here are my first impress-
> sions.
>
>On this list and elsewhere, I have repeatedly
> praised CK/CN for their broadband mapping,
> consumer education, and demand aggregation
> activities. While some of their claims seemed
> exaggerated to me, I gave them the benefit of
> the doubt. At the same time, I often expressed
> concerns about their limited, incumbent-centric
> vision of Americas broadband needs and about
> their strong bias against public broadband
> initiatives.
>
>In his lengthy article, Art Brodsky has now
> called many of CK/CNs claims into question.
> Brian Meffert has responded on behalf of
> CK/CN. Links to both pieces appear below.
>
>I hope that Mr. Meffert will provide a more
> detailed response, that Mr. Brodsky will
> reply, and that the unnamed sources to
> which both refer will step forward and
> enlighten us about what really happened
> in Kentucky. In a matter of this import-
> ance, we need to know the facts, and we
> should not pre-judge them in either
> direction.
>
>Wherever the truth may lie, however, my
> main concerns about the CK/CN will remain.
> In 2002, the US Department of Commerce
> issued a report entitled Understanding
> Broadband Demand in which it observed
> that It is important to note here that the
> current generation of broadband technol-
> ogies (cable and DSL) may prove woefully
> insufficient to carry many of the advanced
> applications driving future demand. Today's
> broadband will be tomorrow's traffic jam,
> and the need for speed will persist as new
> applications and services gobble up existing
> bandwidth. http://tinyurl.com/34e49y
>
>Now, six years later, we can clearly see how
> prescient the Department of Commerce
> was. While CK/CN are stuck on single-
> digit DSL and cable modem speeds, the
> worlds leading nations are pushing rapidly
> toward speeds of 100 Mbps and 10 Gbps.
> Such speeds will completely tip the balance
> of innovation and competetiveness in their
> favor. Ironically, the bandwidth-rich appli-
> cations that these nations will foster would
> clog the arteries of the puny systems that
> CK/CNs initiatives would produce.
>
>To remain a leader in the emerging global
> economy, the United States needs a much
> bigger vision than CK/CNs. We need to give
> all Americans, including those in the rural
> areas that CK/CN would serve, candid and
> unbiased information about the stakes
> involved and about the full range of options
> available to their communities. Moreover,
> we cannot afford to exclude any potentially
> viable initiative public or private -- that
> can help the United States fulfill its vision.
>
>To be sure, we need reliable map of broad-
> band availability as well as speed, quality,
> and price. No one disputes this, and many
> tools are emerging to achieve this. We also
> need better consumer education, including
> accurate data about offerings of incumbent
> and competitive providers. At the very least,
> CK/CN deserve credit for highlighting these
> needs.
>
>But even more, America needs a national
> broadband strategy that is worthy of this
> great Nation. This can happen only if all
> major stakeholders, including the incum-
> bents, candidly acknowledge that America
> faces a tremendous challenge, that time is
> short, and that the public and private
> sectors must work together, in a spirit of
> mutual respect, to meet this great chal-
> lenge. We cannot allow the CK/CN
> controversy to bog us down or divert us
> from developing such a strategy.
>
>Jim Baller
>
>
>------------------------------------------------
>Richard Lowenberg
>P.O.Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
>505-989-9110, 505-603-5200 cell
>
>1st-Mile Institute
>New Mexico Broadband Initiative
>www.1st-mile.com
>------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
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