Cybertelecom Federal Internet Law & Policy An Educational Project

DSL: Naked DSL

37. The Order, set forth above, addresses a discrete issue of broadband policy relating to section 251(c) obligations for unbundling. However, our disposition of the section 251 question does not address broader questions regarding the tying or bundling of services in general that have been raised in the record of this proceeding. In this Notice of Inquiry, we seek to examine the competitive consequences when providers bundle their legacy services with new services, or “tie” such services together such that the services are not available independent from one another to end users. We seek comment on how such bundling might affect both intramodal and intermodal competition and the effect that it might have on the public interest, including benefits to consumers. Several commenters in this and other proceedings have raised the possibility that bundling services potentially harms competition because consumers have to purchase redundant or unwanted services. As the communications marketplace continues to move toward bundled solutions for consumers, we ask commenters to address specifically whether competition is supplying sufficient incentives for providers to disaggregate bundles to maximize consumer choice. We seek comment on whether such bundling behavior is harmful to competition, particularly unaffiliated providers of new services, such as voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), and if so, how this is related to several previous decisions or ongoing proceedings relating to dominance and classification issues. Finally, we seek comment on our authority to impose remedies, the adequacy and costs of any potential regulatory remedies, and the least invasive regulations that could effectively remedy any potential competitive concerns.

• 03/25/2005 MO&O  BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. Request for Declaratory Ruling that State Commissions May Not Regulate Broadband Internet Access Services. FCC 05-78. WC Docket No. 03-251. Word | Acrobat
• Fed Reg Notice
• See also BellSouth Forbearance from Computer Inquiries Petition

• FCC :: DSL :: BellSouth Seeks Declaratory Ruling that State Commissions may not regulate broadband Internet Access Services by requiring BellSouth to provide such services to CLEC Voice Customers.  (DA No. 03-3991). (Dkt No 03-251).  Comments Due Jan 15; Replies Due Jan 30, 2004.
  • 03/25/2005 MO&O  BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. Request for Declaratory Ruling that State Commissions May Not Regulate Broadband Internet Access Services. FCC 05-78. WC Docket No. 03-251. Word | Acrobat Joint Statement of Copps and Adelstein: Word | Acrobat
  • "The Commission has before it a petition for declaratory ruling filed by BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. (BellSouth) regarding issues stemming from the Triennial Review Order. As explained below, because the Commission’s national unbundling rules in the Triennial Review Order directly address the primary issue raised by BellSouth, we grant BellSouth’s petition to the extent described in this Order. Specifically, applying section 251(d)(3) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the Act), we find that a state commission may not require an incumbent local exchange carrier (LEC) to provide digital subscriber line (DSL) service to an end user customer over the same unbundled network element (UNE) loop facility that a competitive LEC uses to provide voice services to that end user. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that state decisions that impose such an obligation are inconsistent with and substantially prevent the implementation of the Act and the Commission’s federal unbundling rules and policies set forth in the Triennial Review Order that implement sections 251(c) and (d)(2) of the Act."

News

• Comcast: a Naked AT&T Is No Threat - Cable giant brushes aside dry loop DSL, users discover bundle 97, DSLreports 8/16/2007
• Earthlink Offers 'Naked' DSL - Only in Verizon territory, DSLreports 7/10/2007
• FCC adds "naked DSL" caveat to AT&T, MCI deals, Free Press 11/8/2005
• BellSouth preps for wireless 'naked DSL', CNET 6/10/2005
• FCC Finds That States Cannot Force Bells to Provide DSL Service to CLEC Voice Customers., FCC 3/29/2005
• FCC Ruling Might Hasten Cable-Telecom Clash, Ecom times 3/29/2005
• Covad's DSL still in the buff, CNET 3/29/2005
• A death knell for naked DSL?, arstechnica 3/29/2005
• BellSouth may shimmy out of 'naked' DSL, CNET 6/14/2004
• SBC told to unhook phone from broadband, CNET 6/14/2004