Arizona Telecommunications & Information Council (ATIC) Multitenant Building Telecommunications Access Study PREVIOUS CONTENTS APPENDIX 4
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Arizonans for Competition in Telephone Service (ACTS)Appendix 4: Submitted Position Statements
Cox Communications Phoenix and Tucson
Position Statement
At the dawn of the new millenium, the Valley of the Sun appears positioned to become the showcase for competition in the telecommunications industry. Many companies, large and small, recognize the attractive market that is Phoenix, a high technology oasis and one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States. Cox Communications is excited to be a part of this mix, bringing a variety of telecommunications, high-speed Internet access, and cable television services to the residential and business consumers served by its broadband network here. In the future, Cox will complete the necessary upgrades to its Tucson network, so that we can deliver our advanced communications services to the people of southern Arizona.
Our traditional core business and competencies have been in the delivery of television content to cable subscribers. In recent years, Cox has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in our Phoenix and Tucson area networks for upgrades that today enable us to offer digital television, voice telephone service, and fast Internet access to many of our customers. We continue to strive to extend the reach of these new services to all our Arizona customers as soon as possible. We are a new Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) ourselves and a recent entrant to the traditional telephony marketplace through our affiliate, Cox Arizona Telcom. Cox remains keenly aware of the difficulties, be they costs, technical, market or regulatory issues, in deploying advanced infrastructure broadly around the region and establishing the necessary connections directly to customers and their premises.
Cox Arizona Telcom has chosen to transform itself into a full service telecommunications provider in this new competitive era and embraces open access for telephone service providers to multitenant businesses and residences, along with the removal of barriers to equal and nondiscriminatory access to customers requesting competitive service offerings. Certainly the property manager or owner must monitor and administer aspects of the underground or rooftop building entry and distribution pathways as a limited and valuable resource. And they should expect appropriate reimbursement for any installation or damage costs as well as fair and reasonable compensation that is consistent with existing arrangements with the ILEC or other CLECs.
But both business and residential consumers must be guaranteed nondiscriminatory access to competitive telecommunications services to the greatest extent practical. Contracts signed in an earlier monopolist telecommunications era should be allowed to be revisited or rebid in today's more open and competitive telecom environment to aid stakeholders otherwise locked into non-competitive long-term agreements. State government should also play a role in clarifying where the Point-of-Demarcation (POD) should be established in order to promote (or at least not impede) local exchange competition. Legislative and regulatory bodies need to act to make multitenant building access equal, nondiscriminatory, and more readily achievable, while encouraging markets to become more orderly and hopefully less contentious and litigious.
Cox Communications is committed to the Arizona market and confident that we can grow and flourish on such a level competitive landscape. Any and all competitors should be able to reach their clients' buildings and install their own communications wiring to reach the tenants' premises on fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory terms.
Submitted by,
Ivan Johnson, Vice President for Community Affairs and TeleVideo
Cox Communications Phoenix (http://www.cox.com/phoenix/)Rodger Dougherty, Director of Public Affairs
Cox Communications Tucson (http://www.cox.com/tucson/)
Multitenant Building Telecommunications Access Study PREVIOUS CONTENTS APPENDIX 4
returnNEXT Submitted Position Statements:
Arizonans for Competition in Telephone Service (ACTS)