tw telecom Asks FCC to Deny AT&T's Elimination of Long-term Pricing Discounts

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