March 11, 1999

DELIVERED BY HAND

The Honorable William E. Kennard
Chairman
Federal Communications Commission
The Portals
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20554

Dear Chairman Kennard:

As you know, the Alliance for Public Technology (APT) shares the Commission's goal of ensuring deployment of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans in a reasonable and timely manner. To accomplish that end, APT has long advocated that the Commission adopt policies encouraging communities to aggregate demand for advanced telecommunications services. We believe that community members' combined demand for advanced telecommunications services will attract providers and stimulate broadband deployment in traditionally underserved areas.

We have just learned that the Commission is considering limiting the availability of wholesale discounts for digital subscriber line service (DSL) under Section 251(c)(4) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to telecommunications carriers only. In that event, community based organizations, municipalities, as well as academic, medical and other institutions would be ineligible for wholesale discounts that would enable them to resell DSL services to residents, small businesses and other subscribers in markets unlikely to attract broadband deployment. Such discounts are crucial to communities' demand aggregation efforts and may be the most viable catalyst for them to undertake the challenge of providing high speed, high capacity service for their citizens. Therefore, as communities labor to participate in the Information Age, APT implores the Commission not to destroy their embryonic attempts, but to support them through the authority that Section 706 of the Act provides.

In the past we have asked the Commission to refrain from applying the resale requirements of Section 251(c) to incumbent local exchange carriers' advanced networks. Now that the Commission appears determined to do so, however, we urge it to extend the availability of wholesale discounts to advanced telecommunications service resellers regardless of their affiliation with a telecommunications carrier. By adopting this inclusive interpretation of Section 251(c)(4), the Commission has the unique opportunity to empower communities across the country to offer their citizens access to the life enhancing benefits of broadband technologies. Thank you for your serious consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,

Maureen A. Lewis
General Counsel

cc: Commissioner Susan Ness
Commissioner Harold Furchtgott Roth
Commissioner Michael Powell
Commissioner Gloria Tristani
Kathy Brown, Chief of Staff
Thomas Power, Advisor to Chairman Kennard
Lawrence E. Strickling, Chief, Common Carrier Bureau
Carol Mattey, Chief, Policy and Program Planning Division Common Carrier Bureau