In 1996, Congress empowered the FCC to establish regulations that would open up the telecommunications market and jump-start competition. In the beginning, Congress and the FCC expected some companies to compete by reselling services over Verizon’s physical network. To the customer, it would look like the competitor’s service. Ultimately, though, the goal was – and still is – to generate competition between different networks...Such competition maximizes investment and innovation, lowers prices and best serves consumers and businesses.

Under today’s rules, the government mandates that competitors receive deeply discounted prices to resell Verizon’s network...

...The FCC is scheduled to decide by December 5 whether competition in Providence has reached the point where forced network-sharing policies need to be updated...

...The FCC already updated these rules in other cities. The FCC found that significant competition from local cable companies alone warranted doing so. In Providence, competition is even more advanced. Cox Communications has built extensive facilities throughout Providence and has been very successful in luring customers to their telephony services. Cox alone offers dozens of voice and data packages to small, medium and large businesses across Rhode Island. And yet Cox is not required to unbundle and resell its network services to its competitors at regulated prices.