WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- tw telecom
inc., (NASDAQ: TWTC) a leading provider of managed
services including Business Ethernet, converged and IP VPN
networking solutions for enterprises throughout the U.S. and to
global locations, filed a Petition to Suspend and Investigate
AT&T's proposal to eliminate certain long-term contracts that
offer pricing discounts.
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"These actions are effectively a rate increase for businesses –
small, medium or large -- as well as large organizations or
government entities that have no alternative for purchasing these
critical telecom access services," said Michael Rouleau, Senior Vice President –
Business Development and Public Policy for tw telecom.
"Customers depend on these types of services as a lifeline
connection for their business. Often times these DS-1 and
DS-3 services are the only network option available for a
business. If there were competitive alternatives available, a
service provider like AT&T could not take such an action.
Only a company like AT&T that possesses overwhelming market
power can take such egregious actions to eliminate rate plans that
offer lower pricing options to its customers and competitors and
not expect to lose its customers," Rouleau added.
tw telecom delivers competitive Internet, data and voice
services to thousands of customers throughout the U.S. solely over
its 30,000-route mile fiber footprint. However, there are
oftentimes tw telecom must lease DS1 and DS3 last-mile
facilities as special access services from third parties to serve
its customers. Because AT&T owns the only last-mile
facility into the vast majority of tw telecom's retail
customer locations in the incumbent's LEC territory, these services
must be purchased from AT&T's FCC tariffs. With the
proposed elimination of long-term contracts, the discounts
typically associated with them are also eliminated.
"Such action will raise our cost of doing business and provide
no additional value and put us in an uncompetitive position with
our customers," Rouleau said. "If these proposed tariff
revisions were to take effect, we would have no choice but to seek
increases to the retail prices we charge our customers in
AT&T's incumbent LEC footprint."
tw telecom asks the Commission to prohibit AT&T from
implementing its proposed price increases by eliminating long-term
contracts and pricing plans until the FCC has resolved its ongoing
proceedings examining AT&T's market power over special access
services – including Ethernet services -- and the appropriate
transition to IP-based networks.
tw telecom's customer commitment to innovation and
delivering reliable network solutions, including its Intelligent
Network capabilities, enables it to deliver consistent,
secure, scalable and predictable network connections to enterprises
throughout the U.S.
About tw telecom
tw telecom, headquartered in
Littleton, Colo., is a leading
national provider of managed services, including Business Ethernet,
converged and IP VPN solutions for enterprises throughout the U.S.
and globally. tw telecom also delivers secure, scalable
private connections for transport data networking, Internet access,
voice, VPN, VoIP and security to large organizations and
communications services companies. Employing a resilient fiber
network infrastructure, robust product portfolio and its own
Intelligent Network capabilities, tw telecom delivers
customers overall economic value, an industry-leading quality
service experience, and improved business productivity. Please
visit www.twtelecom.com for more information.
SOURCE tw telecom