U.S. telecommunications providers keep getting bigger thanks in part to a series of mergers that the Federal Communications Commission has determined are in the public interest.
But AT&T, Verizon and other telecommunications titans have made concessions along the way to placate the competition. In a number of orders approving the massive mergers, the FCC has adopted as enforceable certain commitments that the telecommunications providers have made.
Now, tw telecom says it’s only fair that CenturyLink Inc. make similar concessions in its planned acquisition of Qwest Communications. Littleton, Colo.-based tw telecom, which is based roughly a half hour away from Qwest’s towering headquarters in downtown Denver, has asked the FCC to require CenturyLink to comply with three specific conditions in order to gain merger approval.
“I would point out the merger conditions that we are asking the FCC to adopt are consistent with the same kinds of conditions that they have imposed" in prior mergers, tw telecom Executive Vice President and General Counsel Paul Jones said in a telephone interview last week.
tw telecom has asked the FCC to require CenturyLink to continue to offer special access services with stable rates for three years. Competitors like tw telecom rely on special access services to provide business customers such services as Business Ethernet and IP Virtual Private Networks. The telecommunications provider also is requesting that CenturyLink commit to continue to improve on service quality initiatives that Qwest has honored, including specific performance measures, while maintaining existing agreements for the exchange of Internet backbone traffic.
Jones pointed out that CenturyLink has agreed to maintain performance levels for UNEs, or unbundled network elements, that certain competitor telecommunications providers rely on. But he said CenturyLink has not made the same commitment with respect to special access services. In November, CenturyLink and Qwest reached agreements with Integra Telecom and Cox Communications over certain wholesale services that resolved some concerns over the pending merger.
In an e-mail, CenturyLink spokeswoman Debra Peterson said tw telecom’s proposed conditions are unnecessary or unreasonable.
“A three-year freeze on DS1 and DS3 rates exceeds any reasonable condition and is not necessary," she said. “However, CenturyLink has agreed to a 12-month freeze on Qwest wholesale tariff offerings. In fact, the FCC currently has a special access docket open and any rate modifications should be handled in that proceeding, not this merger."