NoChokePoints Coalition Sites Special Access Reform as a Must for Broadband Economy
Public Interest Groups, Education Organizations, Competitive Broadband Providers and Customer Groups Launch Coalition to Fix Failed High-Capacity Broadband Market
| Source: NoChokePoints Coalition
WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - June 22, 2009) - A broad-based group of organizations and
companies representing critical sectors of the broadband economy, from
health care to education to retail to manufacturing, today announced the
formation of the NoChokePoints coalition. The goal of the group is to stop
the abuse of market power by huge phone companies like AT&T and Verizon in
the provision of high-capacity broadband services, also known as "special
access."
Countless industries and organizations, and hundreds of millions of
customers across the country, depend on this critical broadband input,
including providers of other broadband services. Enabling end users and
broadband providers to obtain special access at a reasonable price is not
only critical to broadband deployment, but also to spurring the investment
and innovation the U.S. economy so desperately needs.
"Releasing the broadband economy from the chokehold these huge phone
companies have on the special access market will be a catalyst for
innovation and investment in the broadband marketplace, something we
desperately need," said Maura Corbett, spokeswoman for the NoChokePoints
coalition. "Every time you send an email, withdraw money from an ATM, or
use your wireless phone, your information travels on these high-capacity
lines. Excessive pricing and other market abuses by these companies have
long been an issue of concern at the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC). Nearly five years ago, after many complaints by broadband customers
in several FCC proceedings, the Commission began a review of the
high-capacity broadband market to determine the changes needed to ensure
reasonable prices. Despite ample evidence of excessive pricing, the
Commission inexplicably has yet to take any action."
"The Obama administration, Congress, and the FCC repeatedly emphasize the
importance of broadband to our economic recovery and, frankly, it defies
explanation that we are still fighting this market abuse," Corbett
continued. "Huge companies like Verizon and AT&T control the broadband
lines of almost every business in the United States. The virtually
unchallenged, exclusive control of these lines costs businesses and
consumers more than $10 billion annually and generates a profit margin of
more than 100 percent for the controlling phone companies, according to
their own data provided to the FCC. This hidden broadband tax results in
enormous losses for consumers and the economy, and this country cannot
afford it; especially now."
NoChokePoints cited four central principles of its campaign to reform the
special access market: (1) the special access market is broken; (2) the
outgoing Federal Communications Commission made a bad situation worse by
failing to address obvious market abuse by these huge phone companies; (3)
this unchecked market control continues to slow broadband deployment,
compromise innovation and harm our national information economy; and (4)
the resulting market failure must be corrected now.
About the NoChokePoints coalition:
The NoChokePoints coalition represents constituents, members, enterprise
customers, competitive broadband providers and communities that rely on
high-capacity "special access" lines. Access to a robust and competitive
market for high-capacity broadband with reasonable prices and availability
is the key to lasting economic growth, broadband deployment and job
creation. Broadband access is a central part of the long-term agendas of
the Obama administration, United States Congress, and the Federal
Communication Commission. It is essential to the health of our information
economy. To learn more about the coalition and how special access affects
us all, please visit www.NoChokePoints.org.