The Unpredictable Certainty White Papers (1997) / Chapter Skim
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The Future NII/GII: Views of Interexchange Carriers
The Future NII/GII: Views of Interexchange Carriers
Pages 434-446
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From page 434... ...
Tim Clifford, SPRINT, Government Systems Division James M Smith, Competitive Telecommunications Association SUMMARY We are not starting a new national information infrastructure/gIobal information infrastructure - /G~ from a blank page; we are building on an information infrastructure, corporate structures, regulatory practices, billing practices, services, and public expectations Hat already exist.
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From page 435... ...
Aside from relaxing current laws and regulations that prevent competition In networks and senaces, we postulate Nat a major governmental role wall be in assuring implementation of what we prefer to think of as We "successor to universal service." The successor to universal service could take either oftwo quite different forms, or some combination of the two. It could mean simply equitable access, meaning that the Nit should be sufficiently ubiquitous that anyone can have access to the network at equitable rates and at some accessible location.
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From page 436... ...
Especially when the cost of usage-based billing is for some reason significant when compared with the cost of the actual service, flat-rate billing mechanisms or even free services may be provided. Asphalt highways provide an example here: the cost and the nuisance factor-of billing for every entry and exit and every ton-m~le of use of roads is so great that we've found other ways to pay for the facilities, In such a way~at does not Invite excessive waste of Pose facilities.
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From page 437... ...
. With a limited number of local networks expected to develop, it is especially important that a comparable wholesale local service be introduced to foster competitive diversity.
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From page 438... ...
and others that we have yet to - , , _ _, magme W~l1 clearly require more and more sophisticated network intelligence and functionality. IXCs have already mace greet progress in these areas in the last decade or so; but the demands of video/multimedia services and increasing demands for flexibility and value-added features will require considerable expansion of"intelligent network" functionality.
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From page 439... ...
Therefore, until and unless either regulation or effective local competition causes the local network providers to offer open Interconnection to all interexchange service providers, on efficient and competitively priced local networks, there could still be limitations to the ability of every service provider to reach every end user, with fair access costs. Because we expect that these local network providers will also be offering their own line of retail local and long distance services, it is not clear that these network owners wait have a great deal of interest in reducing their rivals' costs.
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From page 440... ...
We furler note Mat simply the introduction of competition In focal networks wall not be fully effective in bnng~ng down the last-m~le costs if existing LECs maintain a dominant position in service provision and are allowed to continue charging non-cost-based rates for carrying services Mat originate or terminate on competitors' networks. And even if the new entrants build networks Mat are significantly more efficient and less costly Man existing LECs' networks, those reduced costs cannot be fully passed through to end users if Me LEC networks remain inefficient and Hose inefficiency costs are passed through to Hose new-entrant networks when He dominant LECs provide He last-m'1e carriage.
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From page 441... ...
But from the practical point of view there is indeed a major role for today's IXCs, and that is back to the point of providing competition and therefore much faster progress in building the digital high-bit-rate, last-m~le networks that w'll be so Important to customers who need He features that can be provided why broadband two-way digital networks. Financial and Other Transaction Processing The United States led the world in Implementation of credit cards and debit cards, to replace paper cash and checks in many financial transactions.
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From page 442... ...
This seems clearly to be a case where all the service providers, as well as consumers and the public at large, have a deep interest in designing and executing mechanisms to provide "equitable access" and/or "advanced universal service" in a way that gives all of us the benefits of achieving those societal goals, as they may eventually be defined. Today's Sacs are as anxious as anyone to have the networks and services provided In such a way that students, workers, and all others have access to the GIl, although there wait clearly be services for which a subsidy to users is totally inappropriate.
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From page 443... ...
So we do have a challenge here, to provide a fair chance for all providers, at least for the foreseeable fixture, under a regulatory framework Rat simulates competitive marketplace conditions. The existing local bottlenecks not only give the LECs potential leverage In providing local services; they also provide significant unwarranted leverage to regional Bell operating companies (RBOCs)
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From page 444... ...
International Regulations As we develop into a truly global economy, with global transactions taking place by the millions every hour, we have more and more need for global ~nteroperability of telecommunications systems not necessarily globally identical systems, but surely systems that can readily talk to each other. The current problems associated with the new wireless communications systems are a fine example.
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From page 445... ...
That purchasing power could be used intentionally or not to influence the direction and speed of development of the NII. We urge the federal agencies to be conscious ofthis potential, but we insist that Me specific needs of specific agencies must not be distorted In order to fit into some effort to use that purchasing power to influence network development.
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From page 446... ...
1994. "The Cost of Basic Universal Service," reweld Ass~ia=~c., Boulder, Colo., July.
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