USTelecom Defends 2020 Dark Fiber Order

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2024 – An association of broadband technology innovators is defending a federal order designed to deny dark fiber to local providers after the order faced opposition.

The Unbundling Modernization Order, introduced by the Federal Communications Commission in 2020, was engineered to limit competitive broadband providers’ access to the infrastructure of incumbent local exchange carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon.

The order has recently been the subject of debate by the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, which noted that competition without access to certain rivals’ dark fiber is impractical in an Oct. 9 filing with the FCC.

USTelecom, a Washington D.C. based broadband organization, stepped in to defend the rule. 

“Broadband providers of all kinds retain incentives to invest in facilities-based competition, which is flourishing more every day,” USTelecom’s Vice President of Policy and Advocacy Diana Eisner said in a Thursday letter to the FCC.

Moreover, the association noted that SHLB did not consider the significant costs associated with unbundling, something that it said the FCC must consider.

“[SHLB] also fail[ed] to appreciate precedent confirming that the goal of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is facilities-based competition,” Eisner said.