Martin Turns to the Dark Side

As an FCC commissioner, Kevin Martin was known as a friend to the competitors. He even was awarded the Champions of Competition honors from COMPTEL two years ago.

Now, as chairman, he is racking up a list of unfriendly actions. The latest is the commission's inaction on Verizon's forbearance petition (see story), which effectively allowed the Bell company to reclassify its broadband services from telecommunications to information services. Translation, no more network-sharing requirements for certain types of traffic, including packet-switched broadband services, such as frame relay and ATM, as well as non-TDM-based optical networking, optical hubbing and optical transmission services.

Martin defended the action during a Q&A with COMPTEL President and CEO Earl Comstock this week at COMPTEL's trade show in San Diego. The tension in the hall was palpable during the meeting where Martin said his goal now is not to promote intramodal, but intermodal competition.

Comstock showed restraint, but was clearly affronted on behalf of COMPTEL's members. He reminded Chairman Martin that while competitors are investing in alternative facilities in the metro, reaching the end user is a different matter. "Incumbents won't give competitors access without government oversight," he said.

While there may be lawsuits that follow this action/inaction, there surely will be similar petitions filed by the remaining Bell companies. AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre already said in a speech at TelecomNEXT this week that his company will seek relief.