The FCC Calls AT&T's 'Fiber to the Press Release' Bluff As we noted last week, AT&T's reaction to the President's clear support of Title II was to bluff and claim they were freezing all fiber investment to "up to" 100 cities. However if you've been around here for a while you know that AT&T's plans to deploy fiber to 100 cities was already smoke and mirrors to begin with, and the company has actually been repeatedly slashing their fixed-line investment projections (they had just cut CAPEX by $3 billion just three days before the President's announcement). Apparently, AT&T forgot that they were currently facing a merger review, involving people who are actually looking at hard data and not hyperbole. Jamillia Ferris, a former Justice Department antitrust lawyer who is aiding the FCC in reviewing their DirecTV acquisition plans, quickly sent AT&T a letter asking the company to clearly detail its fiber investment plans. As we've noted previously, most of AT&T's "Gigapower" expansion plans have been "fiber to the press release," or showmanship designed to make very limited high-end development deployments seem more significant than they are. Each breathless AT&T announcement comes with a lot of hype, but absolutely no specifics when it comes to the number of users who'll actually get service. Ferris basically put an end to AT&T's fun by finally demanding AT&T clarify just how much fiber they're planning to deploy. According to the letter, Ferris wants: quote: (a) Data regarding the Company’s current plans for fiber deployment, specifically: (1) the current number of households to which fiber is deployed and the breakdown by technology (i.e., FTTP [fiber-to-the-premises] or FTTN [fiber-to-the-node]) and geographic area of deployment; (2) the total number of households to which the Company planned to deploy fiber prior to the Company’s decision to limit deployment to the 2 million households and the breakdown by technology and geographic area of deployment; and (3) the total number of households to which the Company currently plans to deploy fiber, including the 2 million households, and the breakdown by technology and geographic area of deployment; (b) A description of (1) whether the AT&T FTTP Investment Model demonstrates that fiber deployment is now unprofitable; and (2) whether the fiber to the 2 million homes following acquisition of DirecTV would be unprofitable; and (c) All documents relating to the Company’s decision to limit AT&T’s deployment of fiber to 2 million homes following the acquisition of DirecTV. AT&T insists they're "happy" to supply all of this data, though in reality you can be sure AT&T's none-too-pleased that somebody in government finally called AT&T's bluff on this front. Until now, AT&T had managed to convince the press, public and regulators that they were engaged in a fiber to the home investment of massive scope and scale, with few noticing they were spending less on fixed-line network investment than ever before. AT&T insists they're "happy" to supply all of this data, though in reality you can be sure AT&T's none-too-pleased that somebody in government finally called AT&T's bluff on this front. Until now, AT&T had managed to convince the press, public and regulators that they were engaged in a fiber to the home investment of massive scope and scale, with few noticing they were spending less on fixed-line network investment than ever before. DOC-330489A1







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DaveRickmers

join:2011-07-19

Canyon Country, CA 6 recommendations DaveRickmers Member Major Telcos Want to Retain the Right to Create Artificial Scarcity During the late 1990s, during the fiber boom, they pulled way more cable than they lit up; there is dark fiber everywhere. The #USA has the crappiest broadband in the tech world, because we play the corporate game. Kommie2 (banned)

join:2003-05-13

united state 2 recommendations Kommie2 (banned) Member Good for the FCC! Nice that they reminded ATT that they are using Public Air Space and Frequencies, and they have to back up their statements with some kind of facts.