Centurylink and Fairpoint join "Special Access Coalition" [telecom]

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CenturyLink and FairPoint Communications are part of a new five-member coalition aimed at offering a unified voice as the Federal Communi- cations Commission weighs changes to the market for business data services, or so-called "special access."

The "Invest in Broadband for America" coalition also is comprised of Cincinnati Bell, Inc., Consolidated Communications, Inc. and Frontier Communications.

Last month, AT&T joined the five companies in requesting that the FCC strike "irretrievably flawed" data underlying the agency's proposal to reform the market for special access. The telecom carriers maintained the data vastly understated offerings of cable Ethernet service.