Local access or non-access?

Access to copper loops is far from ubiquitous in spite of the lofty goals of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The difficulties of competitive local exchange carriers and Internet service providers seem to range widely in severity, and several incumbent telcos have gotten black eyes in the press. A few CLECs have reported improving incumbent service order response times, while others adamantly feel that the state of competition is still really poor. As with any issue, there are at least two sides to the story.

Problems that some competitors are finding include:

Access to copper. In the worst cases, gaining access to copper loops is so difficult that one CLEC approaches another for access to copper. The problem with this solution is that in many markets, few choices are available.

Copper shortages. In some cases, simply no copper is available.

Long installation periods. Once an order is placed, processing and delivery of the local loop can take up to three weeks. This results in a 30-day installation period for digital subscriber line services and a concomitant "lost opportunity" cost.

Trouble reporting. Even though a loop takes two to three weeks to be delivered, it may not be usable. In order to work, DSL lines cannot have bridge taps or loading coils. If a loop doesn't work, a CLEC often must make repeated calls to the trouble desk before the problem is understood and then corrected.

Collocation nit-picking. A CLEC or ISP cannot put just anything in its allocated collocation space. Equipment must meet certain requirements. Getting incumbent approval for an equipment platform can take between 30 and 60 days to process.

Troubleshooting and resolution. Once a CLEC obtains copper loops, the incumbent has no way to monitor the physical layer, which means the CLEC has to dispatch a tech to the customer site if problems occur. That's expensive--and today's testing solutions leave a lot to be desired.

Binder group problems. It will be critical that telcos tag DSL circuits to ensure that no binder group problems exist when customers order T-1 or other services after a DSL line has been installed. In many cases, the processes for identifying and resolving troubles stemming from these circumstances have yet to be devised.

Some of the incumbent players are showing signs of improvement. U S West, for example, established a separate group to take interconnection orders from competitors. The group responds to phone, fax and electronic orders 24 hours a day. And several incumbents reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars on network modifications to support competition.

However, the overwhelming response to these efforts from CLECs and ISPs is "not good enough."

Is there any middle ground? One strategy that some international PTTs are taking is simply providing DSL lines for wholesale. These telcos are opting to provide facilities only. They are leaving the data and value-added services to other providers.

Stateside, the advantages of such an approach would benefit primarily the incumbents. It would help control spectral incompatibility issues to some extent and could streamline the process for supplying loops to new service providers. CLECs and ISPs see wholesale DSL as too limiting to their service plans. From their perspective, they would have no equipment choices and would be dependent upon the incumbents' upgrade schedules for advanced feature support.

So when will local loops be more accessible? As more interconnection agreements are forged, the chances for near-term DSL services look better. But it will likely be another year or two before procedural issues involving CLEC support are resolved.

CLECs may indeed spark the DSL market, but it will take another year for the flames to catch, and they may never reach the residential marketplace. Consumers interested in DSL will be dependent on incumbent carrier rollouts, which still leaves cable modems a lot of room to maneuver. The bottom line is this: Not only is the fat lady nowhere in sight, the curtain has only just gone up on the second act.