LEVEL 3 ASKS COMMISSION TO CAP RIGHT-OF-WAY CHARGES

摘要

The FCC should affirm that there's a limit on right-of-way fees, to promote broadband deployment, Level 3 said. In a petition last week, the company asked the FCC to preempt "unreasonable, unfair and discriminatory annual rents" required by the New York State Thruway Authority for Level 3 infrastructure. The rates, 180-725 times higher than prevailing charges, prevent the company from providing middle-mile broadband transport and other telecom services to small- and mid-sized communities along the Thruway, the company said. The authority's demands are "blatantly discriminatory," because others are charged annual rents according to scheduled rates consistent with prevailing rates, Level 3 said. "Although Level 3 is currently undertaking a nationwide project to expand its fiber networks to additional communities, NYSTA's rent demands and the difficulty of working with NYSTA on permitting prevent any such new fiber on-ramps from being economically sustainable, even with possible support under the recently enacted federal broadband stimulus program."