Hi Dave, your uplink post no. 5957 concerning line sharing between the ILECs and the DSL operators comes with a twist of irony, immediately after my posting the following earlier today:
Message 11917323
It's a reply to Mark Duper who had initially asked the question on the Covad thread, and it followed a similar discussion with Ken De Paul concerning another (or perhaps the same) pending DSL related action before the FCC at this time. [Ken, if you are looking in, does this sound right?]
At first I had some difficulty in discerning exactly what element of "sharing" he was referring to until he pointed out the Reuters release.
In general, we were initially speculating over the possible motives behind GTE's actions relating to their partnering with the three dominant national DSL providers. Ken sparked the discussion earlier last night, at:
Message 11908560
...but it took me a while to catch on to what it was that he was referring to. My confusion stemmed from an earlier discussion concerning the creation of separate subsidiaries by the BOCs. Oh well..
I've copied my final reply to the "real" sharing issue below for the sake of convenience, in case anyone is interested.
Frank
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Hi Mark,
Oh. That kind of sharing...
As I noted in another message to Ken De Paul, the term "sharing," when used
in this space, can take on many different meanings.
Since you have pointed to the specific Reuters release, I now have a better
feel for what you are looking for. And it may serve to further what I was
saying before, in some ways.
While the article's conclusion is still speculative, they may be right. They
may, but I, for one, am not sure about it at this time, and I'd need to see the
actual wording in the ruling, the devils that telnet to one another in the details,
before developing a more informed opinion. But I can speculate as to the
potential issues and what some of the potential outcomes might be, too.
Getting back to your original question tho, concerning the motives behind any
proactions by certain ILECs, it would depend on the subjective stance of any
individual ILEC. To be sure, they have been known to diverge widely on such
matters in the past, so it will likely result in different reactions on their
individual parts (if the ruling does comes to pass), by each of them.
Sometimes it appears that the FCC comes out with what I like to call "point
and click" or p&c, of decisions and rulings, borrowing from the mentality of
sitting in front of the PC for too long. I'll leave it at that.
But this may be one such case, just like their almost complete avoidance in
taking action to open up the Cable TV Operators' facilities. Now, there's an
interesting contrast, wouldn't you say? When it comes to opening up the
MSO's and ATHM's pipes they figuratively stick their heads in the sand. When
it comes to the ILECs, they instead fetch for the cutlery.
I say that their pending decision appears to be p&c because I feel that they
may not have thought it out completely. There are many potential
complexities that could ensue behind the scenes in attempting to implement
such offerings. The unwieldiness that could materialize vis a vis the number
of upstarts who "want in" could be absolutely monumental. In order to
discourage such outcomes, there would need to be some criteria set for who
qualifies to get in on the action, and who does not. oi!
[[If the number of startups in such a scenario were to get high enough, I could
envisage a new market sector wherein space is let in EXDS-like facilities for
the carriers to bring their subscriber loops to, solely for the purpose of
allowing add-on carriers to attach their wares. Stated only partially tongue in
cheek. For, with fiber extension, this is altogether feasible. Then the startups
could collectively pay their own rent in their own offices on a cooperative
basis. Again, only partially tongue in cheek. Carrier hotels have already been
formed around this principle, albeit not for DSL services, specifically.]]
In a message that Ray Jensen once posted a while back on the Last Mile
Thread he referred to the chain-link fenced and passageways that make up
today's colo spaces in central offices as "zoos." I wonder how Ray would
characterize this proposed situation? Ray, you there?
I would very much welcome more comments and opinions from you and
others here on this matter. What say?
Regards, Frank Coluccio |
