Most line sharing regulation was gutted by the FCC's deregulation of the DSL industry back in 2005, but some agreements remain grandfathered. Baby bells often argue that the markets they serve are just so gosh-darned competitive now, they should no longer be mandated to share network access with competitors at protected, affordable rates. The problem has been that the carriers often game this "forbearance" request process to get what they want from the agency, usually to the detriment of smaller competitors.

In many instances, baby bell lawyers consistently modify their request after it gets submitted, giving smaller competitors with fewer legal resources and FCC lawyers no time to keep up. Baby bell lawyers also like to pull their request for regulatory relief at the last second if it looks like it's not going to be approved, which is something Verizon recently did after the FCC already spent $150,000 in man hours reviewing the request.

A new order (pdf) changes things, as Commissioner Copps explores in a statement:The FCC still hasn't fixed their "deemed granted" rule, which gives baby bells automatic approval if the agency can't agree on a decision within one year plus a 90 day extension (easier to do if you keep changing your request). That's been a particular annoyance to small carriers for years. Of course to grant relief from regulation the FCC has to know how competitive a market is before granting the request -- something they really only pretend to do given they don't have accurate competition data.

Once you understand how dysfunctional the FCC has been, and how easily baby bell lobbyists have been able to game the system -- it becomes fairly clear why we've consistently ranked in the middle of the pack when it comes to broadband speed, penetration, and price. It also becomes clear just how big of a job new FCC boss Julius Genachowski has when it comes to crafting a functional national broadband policy.