”The years-long quest upon which the FCC has...

"The years-long quest upon which the FCC has been embarked to determine whether special access rates are ‘reasonable’ makes Don Quixote’s quest look like child’s play,” Free State Foundation President Randolph May said in a blog post Tuesday bemoaning the special access “debacle” (http://bit.ly/18Rla5C). The FCC is unlikely to ever gather all, or even most, of the requested data, May said, citing an NCTA petition seeking review of the data collection it said violates the Paperwork Reduction Act (http://bit.ly/18RlukP). Even assuming the special access market should be more competitive than it already is, any potential mandated rate reduction would “deter the development of further facilities-based competition,” May said. He also criticized the FCC’s decision to suspend and investigate AT&T’s special access tariff filing proposing to eliminate new long-term discounts (CD Dec 10 p1). “The FCC’s action was a mistake, and it leaves one wondering whether the agency has any appreciation at all of the way its actions can adversely affect the transition to all IP networks that enable less costly, more efficient services,” May said. “The Commission needs to reorient its pro-regulatory mindset in a meaningful way."