Attachment FCC Deferral Request

FCC Deferral Request

LETTER

Petition to Defer

2012-09-07

This document pretains to ITC-T/C-20120716-00183 for Transfer of Control on a International Telecommunications filing.

IBFS_ITCTC2012071600183_965449

Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. In the Matter of Applications Filed for the Transfer of WC Docket No. 12-206 Control of Wavecom Solutions Corp. to Hawaiian Telcom, Inc. COMMENTS IN SUPPORT OF CONDITIONAL APPROVAL L’Office des postes et télécommunications de Polynésie française (“OPT”) supports a grant of Commission consent to the acquisition by Hawaiian Telcom, Inc. (“HT”) of Wavecom Solutions Corporation (“Wavecom”) (the “Proposed Transaction”), subject to a condition that would preclude Wavecom from engaging in further discriminatory and anticompetitive behavior of the sort suffered to date by OPT. OPT’s Honotua Cable System lands at Wavecom’s Kawaihae cable station on the Big Island of Hawaii. Since 2010, Wavecom has engaged in a series of discriminatory and anticompetitive actions that have impaired OPT’s operation of its Honotua Cable System by preventing OPT from obtaining competitive backhaul and interconnection arrangements. Wavecom has leveraged its cable station as a bottleneck facility in order to favor Wavecom’s own backhaul services on the Big Island-Oahu route in violation of its obligations under Sections 201, 202, and 251 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the “Act”). The combined HT-Wavecom would have an economic incentive to continue such actions, as consummation of the Proposed Transaction would give HT considerable market power in the inter-island connectivity and backhaul market, with control of

75 percent of available fiber capacity on the Big Island-Oahu route. The Commission has often conditioned transaction approvals on compliance with competitive safeguards, and OPT requests that the Commission impose such a remedy here. I. BACKGROUND ON OPT’S HAWAII LANDING ARRANGEMENTS WITH WAVECOM OPT owns and operates the Honotua Cable System, the international segment of which connects Tahiti to Hawaii. 1 Before Honotua entered into commercial service in 2010, French Polynesia relied entirely on satellites for international connectivity. 2 Since that time, French Polynesia has come to depend critically on Honotua for high-speed Internet connectivity, high- quality voice and data communications, transmission of television programming, telemedicine, and a host of economic activities. 3 Through its operating divisions and subsidiaries, OPT French Polynesia is the incumbent provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications, Internet access, video programming, and postal services in French Polynesia and is wholly owned by the French Polynesia Government. Although government-owned, OPT is financially autonomous from the French Polynesia Government. Its telecommunications activities are subject to regulation by the Digital Regulatory Agency (Agence de Réglementation Numérique (“ARN”)). 4 1 Actions Taken Under the Cable Landing License Act, Public Notice, File No. SCL-LIC- 20081008-00017, 25 FCC Rcd. 17,049 (Int’l Bur. 2010) (granting a cable landing license for the Honotua Cable System) (“Honotua Cable Landing License”); International Authorizations Granted, Public Notice, File No. ITC-214-20081008-00453, 25 FCC Rcd. 17,052 (Int’l Bur. 2010) (granting an international Section 214 authorization for the Honotua Cable System) (“Honotua 214”). 2 Declaration of Patrick Ellacott at ¶ 3 (“Ellacott Decl.”). 3 Id. ¶ 3. 4 Until September 2011, ARN’s functions were handled by a predecessor agency, the Service de postes et télécommunications (“SPT”). 2


Document Created: 2012-09-07 10:34:34
Document Modified: 2012-09-07 10:34:34
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