As the FCC facilitates the transition to IP...

As the FCC facilitates the transition to IP networks, it should take steps to preserve competition where ILECs often have the only last-mile connection to the customer, Granite Telecommunications told aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai last week, ex parte filings said (http://bit.ly/1c3x9Sy). The CLEC, which provides more than 1.3 million business lines nationally, said regional bell operating companies “typically deny CLECs access to circuits provisioned to technology other than copper”; the competition Granite provides “would not be possible if copper were removed without any requirement that CLECs be given access to the replacement medium,” it said. Other technologies, like wireless or cable, would not be adequate substitutes for ILEC service, Granite said. Granite expressed concern over wire center trials proposed by AT&T, which could interfere with Granite’s services. “There is no apparent provision in AT&T’s proposal to ensure that wholesale customers such as Granite can continue to purchase wholesale service from the ILEC during or after the trial,” it said.