The “quickest and certainly the most cost effective...

The “quickest and certainly the most cost effective way” to expand and increase connectivity to America’s schools and libraries “is by leveraging the extensive networks of commercial service providers,” CenturyLink told FCC officials Monday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1fLPqVP). The telco was meeting with agency officials to discuss the planned expansion of the E-rate program. “The Commission should not underestimate, as many parties have, the impressively broad reach of the fiber networks of proven commercial providers.” Public networks, in contrast, have “a poor record for cost-effectiveness and reliability, and self-provisioning of high-bandwidth facilities is invariably ill-advised,” the ILEC said. The “vast majority” of schools and libraries “have Ethernet available today,” and CenturyLink can deliver 100 Mbps or higher service quickly and cost effectively “simply by installing a fiber loop to the school or library building,” it said.