FCC Urged to Reverse Fiber Unbundling Regs

 A California firm wants the FCC to reverse a Trump-era decision to loosen rules that require dominant local telecoms to unbundle and resell fiber networks to make room for competitors. Sonic Telecom said in a petition this week the deregulatory move deters, rather than promotes, fiber-to-the-home infrastructure builds using certain networks. 

The agency relaxed the rules in October. The Commission should revisit the changes because two unbundled network elements are crucial to the rapid expansion of competing fiber networks, Sonic asserts, according to Law360. The pandemic highlights the need for a faster fiber race in urban areas, Sonic said in the filing; it referred specifically to unbundled dark fiber within a half mile of fiber. Continue Reading