Boston Wants AT&T Re-Regulated

Cable World, Sept 3, 2001 by K.C. Neel

The city of Boston wants the FCC to overturn its decision to deregulate AT&T Broadband. But AT&T says competition from RCN Corp. eliminates the need for regulation in the city.

Cablevision Systems Corp., which sold the Boston system that counts some 142,000 customers, last year asked the FCC to relieve it from regulatory scrutiny based on competition it receives from RCN Corp., which has been providing voice, video and data services to around 12,000 area residents.

FCC rules stipulate that a cable system can be deregulated if it is deemed that the system has "effective competition" from another video provider or that the system has less than a 30% penetration rate. Cities can only regulate a cable operator's most basic tier, which is generally a fraction of what customers pay for service.

AT&T Broadband's property in Boston has about a 50% penetration rate, according to Rick Jenkinson, a spokesman for AT&T, which took over the system last spring. But the company competes head-to-head with RCN, which should result in deregulation, he says. Calls to RCN weren't returned.

Boston officials sent a letter to the FCC last week asking the commission to reconsider its decision, and even though AT&T didn't ask to be deregulated, it filed reply comments endorsing the decision, Jenkinson says. Representatives from Boston were unavailable for comment last week.

AT&T is rebuilding the Boston system so that it can offer voice and data services to customers, Jenkinson says.

An RCN Corp. spokesman declined to provide customer numbers, but did say that the company serves 18 communities in the Boston area including a couple of neighborhoods within the Boston city limits.