FTTH Council North America opposes fiber unbundling

The FTTH Council North America and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) of the US filed comments to the FCC, asking it not to follow up on a petition from Cbeyond, aimed at unbundling FTTH/FTTC.

This is appalling on different levels:

• The Council should be very careful taking sides in a regulation debate. Obviously, it is controlled by the large US telcos, which explains a lot. The question now is: what will the other FTTH Councils say? I cannot imagine the FTTH Council Europe agreeing on this issue. And more importantly: what will the FCC do?
• Open access is not just good for the broadband market, it is good for operators as well. Fortunately, the number of telco's understanding that in an IP world telecoms is a volume-business, not a price-business, is on the rise. Switzerland has been taken down, and recently Australia. Belgium wil be next. Obviously, it is good for vendors as well because open access means a larger addressable market.
• Verizon is the only major ILEC doing FTTH. There are several dozen local telcos and municipalities, but at the current rate, the US will not reach 100% FTTH before the 22nd century.
• The Berkman study from Harvard is dismissed, which makes one frown, to say the least. The study concluded, from international research, that open access leads to higher penetration, lower prices, more capacity and higher speeds.