Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
INCOMPAS Releases Economic Studies, Launches Website to Save the Bridge 2 Broadband, Stop AT&T’s “Competition Cut Off”
 
Filing Opposing USTelecom Forbearance Petition Includes Game-Changing Economic Study that Shows Smaller Broadband Providers
Deploying More Fiber Than Larger Incumbents
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 7, 2018) – INCOMPAS, the internet and competitive networks association, is ramping up efforts to save broadband competition and help local broadband builders. In two detailed new economic studies and a substantive filing to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), INCOMPAS is making the case that small builders are driving the future of fiber building, providing evidence that the much larger incumbents are simply seeking to profit off the past.
 
INCOMPAS also launched a new website, Bridge2Broadband.org, to help bring more attention to the AT&T-led effort to raise prices and cut off competition.
 
“Our economic studies are a game changer. The reality is local broadband providers, many of which are 200 times smaller than AT&T, are deploying more fiber and providing faster broadband speeds than the old telephone giants,” said Chip Pickering, CEO of INCOMPAS. “The big Bell myth that only the largest, deep-pocketed companies will invest in new network deployment is false. In fact, competitive investment is the only thing pressuring companies like AT&T to deploy new networks and offer lower prices.”
 
The INCOMPAS economic studies offer new information and analysis in key markets that indicates competitive providers are providing a number of benefits, including:  
 
1. Building More Fiber: Local competitive builders that harness the Bridge 2 Broadband, or UNE access, are deploying more fiber than incumbents. This fiber becomes the foundation for the future and 5G deployments.
 
2. Faster Speeds: Local competitive builders are delivering faster broadband speeds over traditional broadband lines than the incumbents. These faster speeds are the result of electronic equipment investment and innovation. As the declarations show, these speeds generally exceed the FCC standards and provide many customers in rural America with their only bridge to the internet. 
 
3. Lower Prices, Better Service: Consumers are saving money with more competition in each market. This includes residential customers, small businesses, schools, libraries, government and public safety organizations.
 
4. Investment: Forbearance will harm consumers by reducing broadband infrastructure investment from both competitive providers and incumbents, which will have greater incentive to hold onto older, networks of the past.
 
5. Competition is the Incentive to Build: In markets where a smaller broadband provider has deployed new fiber, offering gigabit speeds at a fraction of the cost, the incumbent providers are forced to respond with network upgrades and match pricing.
 
6. Threat to Growing Businesses: The petition poses a significant danger to the resale market, which enables business customers with multiple locations and branch offices to harness the power of “One call, connect all” solutions. According to an additional economic study, competitive providers are able to offer streamlined business solutions and the petition would engender enormous costs and headaches for thousands of businesses large and small.
 
The INCOMPAS filing includes declarations of support for the INCOMPAS opposition from 14 entities, including: Access One, Allstream Business US, Dialog Telecom, Digital West, Douglas Services/Douglas FastNet, Fusion Connect, Gorge Networks, Biddeford Internet Corp./GWI, IdeaTek Telecom, Origin Networks/InfoStructure, Mammoth Networks, Race, Socket Telecom, Virginia Global.