CPI suing FCC to get at real state of broadband competition in the US
1/22/2007 1:46:18 PM, by Nate Anderson
The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) wants to find out exactly how
competitive the US broadband market is. To do that, it needs access to
the raw data collected by the FCC, but the agency has refused to turn it
over on the grounds that it could give a competitive advantage to other
companies. CPI now finds itself in a District Court battle against the
agency, which is being supported by AT&T, Verizon, and the three major
industry trade groups: NCTA (cable), CTIA (wireless), and USTA (telephone).
CPI wants the FCC database of Form 477 filings. These documents are
filed with the FCC by every telecom company in the US, and they give the
agency data on each company's line deployments, broken down by ZIP code
(and generally unaudited by the FCC). The FCC then uses this data to
generate reports about the state of broadband competition, usually
arguing that nothing radical needs to be done.
But the agency's methods for generating these reports have come under
scrutiny, and CPI wants to take a look for itself. When talking about
broadband deployment, for instance, the FCC says that any particular ZIP
code has broadband access if even a single cable or DSL connection
exists there. It also classes "broadband" as anything above 200kbps—a
woefully low standard for any true broadband connection.
The General Accounting Office, the federal government's internal
watchdog agency, took the FCC to task (PDF) last May for the way it
prepared these reports. The GAO's own examination of Form 477 data found
that the median number of broadband options in a particular ZIP code was
two, not eight as the FCC claimed.
CPI filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FCC on
August 24. After the statutory 20 business days had passed without any
word from the agency, CPI filed suit on September 25, 2006. That
apparently got the FCC's attention; the FOIA request was officially
denied the next day.
The matter is now in the hands of a federal judge, and the FCC is trying
to have the case dismissed. The agency argues that the material in the
reports is confidential business information and that the release of it
could damage the companies involved. In a court filing, Alan Feldman of
the FCC tells the court how this might work. "For example," he says,
"information about how a company's number of lines has increased or
decreased in a particular area over time provides competitors with
insights into how that company is focusing its investment and marketing
efforts." He also notes that most filers requested confidentiality for
their data.
CPI hopes to add the Form 477 data to its Media Tracker, a web site that
shows consumers the available broadband providers, cable operators,
television and radio stations, and newspapers in the area.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070122-8674.html
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