New coalition focuses on building access

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A coalition will be launched on Wednesday that will urge the U.S. government to help new telecommunications providers build their networks by mandating greater access to buildings.

The coalition, formed by 20 telecom associations, competitive local exchange carriers (CLEC) and other telecom vendors, will promote what it calls "unrestricted access" to commercial office buildings. It will call on the Federal Communications Commission to require building owners to provide nondiscriminatory access to all telecom companies, said Jim Crawford, a spokesman for the Association for Local Telecommunications Services, one of the organizations in the coalition.

Companies that support open access say many office buildings have long-standing access deals with incumbent carriers and demand large fees to allow access to the newcomers.

"They are being held [for] ransom by the building owners," Crawford said. "The coalition will mount a call to action to the FCC for federal intervention to assure that buildings are open. It's an overlooked area of the Telecommunications Act of 1996."

The coalition will urge the FCC to allow the CLECs and other companies represented by the coalition access to rooftop conduits, risers and the wiring closets in office buildings, Crawford added.

The Building Owners and Managers Association opposes open access and created the Real Access Alliance a year ago to represent its views in the debate. The Real Access Alliance says the carriers and telecom associations are advocating "forced access."

The proposal that the FCC take action is supported by a relatively small number of telecom companies that contradict themselves by complaining about access while at the same time report positively to investors about the build-out of their networks, said Audra Capas, vice president of communications at the Real Estate Roundtable, a member of the Real Access Alliance.

"This policy issue in our view is really a policy in search of a problem," Capas said. "There is no problem. The telecom markets are working just as Congress intended they should work under the Telecommunications Act of '96."