Groups protest Verizon's proposed special access rate hikes
- 08 May, 2012 06:54
- Comments
Members of the NoChokepoints Coalition will ask the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to stop Verizon Communications from raising the rates for middle-mile broadband connections that many businesses rely on.
Verizon has proposed to raise the rates on its so-called special access services by 6 percent, according to the coalition. Special access fees are the rates that businesses and other large telecom customers pay for connections to carriers' central switching facilities.
Members of the coalition planned to file petitions opposing the rate hike late Monday with the FCC, a coalition spokeswoman said.
While global broadband prices are dropping, Verizon has proposed its second increase in less than a year, said Maura Corbett, NoChokepoints' executive director.
"It doesn't take a PhD in Economics to figure out that if a company is able to continually raise prices in a market where the costs keep dropping, that it's probably using that market as its personal ATM machine," Corbett said in an email. "So while the rest of the economy struggles to recover from one of the worst economic downturns in history, Verizon continues to overprice this critical broadband input simply because nobody is stopping them."
Verizon said prices for affected DS1 and DS3 services have declined by more than 15 percent over the past decade, when adjusted for inflation, even after the proposed increase.
"The marketplace for high-capacity services, including special access, is competitive, and it is growing increasingly competitive as wireless backhaul generates increasing demand," Verizon said in a statement. "Customers have more choices as cable providers, fixed wireless providers, and other competitive providers have expanded their offerings to meet the growth in demand."
Corbett disputed Verizon's numbers.
Members of NoChokepoints include Public Knowledge, Sprint Nextel, U.S. Cellular and XO Communications.
Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.
Recommended
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.
- Bookmark this page
- Share this article
- Got more on this story? Email CIO
- Follow CIO on twitter
-
Why change management doesn’t work
-
Larry Page wants to see your medical records
-
Dual-Persona Smartphones Not a BYOD Panacea
-
After two-year hiatus, EFF accepts bitcoin donations again
-
CIOs struggle to deliver timely mobile business apps: survey
-
The Big Data Security Analytics Era is Here
Large organisations can no longer rely on preventive security systems, point security tools, manual processes, and hardened configurations to protect them from targeted attacks and advanced malware. Henceforth, security management must be based upon continuous monitoring and data analysis for up‐to-the‐minute situational awareness and rapid data-driven security decisions. This means that large organisations have entered the era of big data security analytics. Learn more. -
How Web Security Improves Productivity and Compliance
In this white paper, we will look at how secure web gateways, one type of information security technology, can provide benefits to many departments within any business or government agency. Download now. -
Unleashing the Power of Information
If business-relevant information is not well managed, secured and analysed, it can become an underutilized asset or—worst case—a legal and competitive liability. Nearly all of the IT and business executives who responded to a recent survey recognise this risk, and say they understand the importance of having an enterprise information management (EIM) strategy. Find out more on how to reduce costs, improve competitiveness and avoid risk by making information management an enterprisewide strategic priority.
Get exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis. 
