The FCC has banned exclusive agreements with apartment building property owners and telecom carriers. These agreements have been common and basically allow a carrier to become the exclusive provider for telecom services in places like apartment buildings, providing a huge barrier to entry for competitors. The order also claims to rescind any existing exclusivity agreements. The FCC issued a similar order for cable television agreements back in 2007.
It’s too early to get a reaction from the industry, but consensus is they won’t be happy. This new order affects both telecom and cable companies, since they both now provide telecom services. In fact the cable industry will probably be more upset because they have been more active with apartment building exclusivity deals, especially with triple play bundles. The next few days and weeks will surely see less than favorable reaction.
