A/75836034.1

Eric J. Branfman Direct Phone: +1.202.373.6553 Direct Fax: +1.202.373.6415 Eric.branfman@bingham.com

November 18, 2013

VIA ECFS

Marlene H. Dortch Secretary Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, SW, Room TW-A325 Washington, DC 20554

Re: Notice of Ex Parte Presentation - AT&T Petition to Launch a Proceeding Concerning the TDM-to-IP Transition; Petition of the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association for a Rulemaking to Promote and Sustain the Ongoing TDM-to-IP Evolution, GN Docket No. 12-353; Technology Transitions Policy Task Force, GN Docket No. 13-5

Dear Ms. Dortch:

On November 14, 2013, the undersigned of Bingham McCutchen LLP, representing Granite Telecommunications LLC (“Granite”), Samuel J. Kline, Senior Vice President-Corporate Strategy of Granite, Michael B. Galvin, General Counsel of Granite, and Kevin Joseph of The Joseph Group, met with Jonathan Sallet, interim director of the Technology Transitions Policy Task Force, Lisa Gelb (WCB), Henning Schulzrinne, Chief Technical Officer, Stephanie Weiner (OGC), and Jonathan Chambers (OSP) regarding the above matters.

Granite discussed its position as a CLEC in serving national, multi-location businesses, providing more than 1,300,000 business lines. Granite noted that it serves many of the largest retailers in the nation, and that while these are large companies, their needs at each retail location are typically only 3-4 lines. Granite explained that it differentiates its service by offering highly responsive customer service, and by offering multi-location business the ability to obtain their communications needs throughout the country from a single supplier.

Granite explained that it primarily obtains the lines to serve its customers from ILECs through multi-state “commercial” agreements. Granite noted that the RBOCs’ commercial agreements typically deny CLECs access to circuits provisioned over technology other than copper, and thus the type of competition provided by Granite would not be possible if copper were removed without any requirement that CLECs be given access to the replacement medium.

Marlene H. Dortch November 18, 2013 Page 2

A/75836034.1

Granite urged that as it facilitates the transition to IP networks, the Commission should take steps to preserve competition, particularly in the portion of the business market served by Granite, where the ILEC often has the only last-mile connection to the customer. Wireless communication is not an adequate substitute for the ILEC’s service because it does not support features needed by businesses, such as faxing, call hunting, message waiting, failover and Centrex features. Wireless also cannot currently provide elevator service, a product that Granite furnishes to its customers.

Granite also pointed out that cable often does not pass the retail businesses that Granite serves and that in many cases in which cable passes such businesses, the cost of extending cable facilities from the street to the business is prohibitive, given the relatively small telecommunications demand at any given location of such businesses. Granite pointed out that for similar reasons, it is improbable that any competitive carrier would find it economical to build out to such locations.

Granite also emphasized that, as ATT has recently noted, detailed trial plans subject to public comment are necessary, Granite suggested ground rule for possible trials and expressed its concerns about trials as originally proposed. In particular, Granite observed that AT&T’s proposed trials may interfere with the services Granite currently provides its customers in those locations, as there was no apparent provision in AT&T’s proposal to ensure that wholesale customers such as Granite can continue to purchase wholesale service from the ILEC during or after the trial. Granite also provided the attendees with a copy of the attached presentation.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Eric J. Branfman

Eric J. Branfman

Counsel for Granite Telecommunications, LLC

cc: Jonathan Sallet (via email) Lisa Gelb (via email) Henning Schulzrinne (via email) Stephanie Weiner (via email) Jonathan Chambers (via email) Attachment

Granite Background

1.1 Facts ... ..... . ... .......................... ....... ..................... .... .. ..... ........ ... ......... 2

1.2 Recognition .............................. .... ....................... . .... ... ... .. .... .. ... ...... ... 3

1.3 Background ........................................................ . ..... . ... .. ...... .. . ... ....... 4

National Product Support

2.1 North American Voice Management. .... ..... ............... .. ... ..... .. .. .............. .. . 6

2.2 Structured Cabling and Systems ......... .............. .... ...... .......... .. .......... .... . 7

2.3 Broadband Solutions ............ .. . ......... ................. .. ...... .. ... .......... ........... 7

2.4 High Capacity Data Services .................................. ......... .. .......... .......... 8

2.5 Data Aggregation Unit (DAU) ......... ... ...................... .... ........................... 8

Impact of Trials on Granite Customers

3.1 Customer Description ................. .. ......................... ....... ..... .. ..... ...... ... .. 9

3.2 Risks to Granite Customers From Regulatory Proposal .. . .. .. .... . ..... . .. ... .... . 1 0

3.3 Ground Rules for Trials ............. ... .... ........................ ... ... .................. .. 11

Page 1 of 11

1.1 Who is Granite?

~ Communications management company for businesses o Serves more than 13,500 multi-site businesses nationwide at over 240,000 locations o No residential services

~ For over a decade, Granite has experienced explosive growth with 2013 annual revenue on pace to exceed $865,000,000

~ Granite manages more than 1,300,000 business phone lines (POTS), 65,000 Broadband lines, and 10,000 T-1s

~ Granite is a private company with headquarters in Boston, MA and offices throughout America Purchased corporate-owned campus, exceeds 300,000 square feet of office space

~ 1,000 employees and nationwide network of over 8,000 wire and cabling contractors

~ Our tremendous growth is matched by our client retention, both are industry leading

~ Industry leading web tools with unique reporting that is customizable to customer's needs

Page 2 of 11

1.2 Recognition

Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year

(2010)

BBJ Top 20 Charitable Contributor of the Year in Massachusetts

(2009,2010,2011,2012)

Inc. 500/5000 Top 10 in Revenue/ Fastest Growing Private Companies

{2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012)

BBJ Top 20 in Revenue with Private Companies in Massachusetts

{2009,2010,2011,2012)

BBJ Top 20 Fastest Growing Private Companies in Massachusetts

{2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012)

USPS Supplier Excellence Award

{2011}

BBJ Top 3 Most Healthiest Employers

(2012}

CTEMS #1 Wireline Supplier in the US

(2012}

Page 3 of 11

ill ERNST & YOUNG Quality In Everything We Do

Boston Busin~ Journal

Inc.

Boston Busin~ Journal

Boston Uusln~ Journal

pi' UNITED STIJTES POSTLlL SERVICE.

Boston Busin~ Journal

(9 AOTMP's Center for CTEM$ Telecom Environment

Management Standards

1.3 Background Last 10 Years

1000

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

Headcount 1003

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Revenue

$800,000,000 $739,000,000

$700,000,000

$600,000,000

$500,000,000

$400,000,000

$300,000,000

$200,000,000

$100,000,000

$0 "t

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Page 4 of 11

Inside Wire Revenue Growth

30000000

25000000

"' c 20000000 0 ·--::?!

15000000

10000000

5000000

0

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 -~-~-

Broadband Revenue Growth

50000

"' 40000

c 0 30000 ·--

::?! 20000

10000

0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total Lines

1,500,000 1,250,000

1,135,000 1,011,023

"' c 1,000,000 0 ·--

::?! 500,000

0 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Page 5 of 11

Products

~ Voice: Local, long distance, SIP and dedicated lines

~ Broadband & Data: DSL and other broadband products (T-ls, Ethernet) with speeds from 1.5 Mbps through gigabit ethernet

~ Inside wire support: new builds, remodels, roll outs, and voice systems

~ Alarm monitoring service: fire and burglar

~ Own VoiP and MPLS networks before the end of 2013

Service

~ Granite consolidates services from across the US and Canada on multiple ILEC I ITOC footprints

~ Single customized bill file, compatible with Oracle, JP Edwards, SAP and many others

~ Single National Account Team with single point of contact for entire country

~ Single National Account Rates

Page 6 of 11

2.1 North American Voice Consolidation

~ North American consolidation of support and savings

~ Customers include 18 of top 20 US retail companies and two thirds of Fortune 100

~ Electronically bonded to 14 of the largest local carriers

2.2 Structured Cabling and Systems

~ Structured Cabling Installations: Design and installation of voice, data and video cabling for business customers nationwide

~ Partners- Avaya, Nortel, Samsung, Talk Switch, Leviton, Mohawk, Cisco, Shoretel, Systimax, and Novar

2.3 Broadband Solutions

~ Nationwide Broadband Service {68,000 lines managed)

~ Broadband, cable, wireless and satellite

~ One point of contact for ordering provisioning and management

~ Scalable solutions

~ 24/7/365 Broadband support

~ Single consolidated invoice

Page 7 of 11

2.4 High Capacity Data Services

~ Speeds from 1.5 Mbps through Gigabit Ethernet

~ Ethernet over Copper (EoC)

~ Flexibility to Scale Bandwidth

~ Integrated T1's

~ VoiP- SIP-Trunking

~ Mesh MPLS

~ Private IP Network

~ Cloud Hosted IP PBX

2.5 Data Aggregation Unit (DAU)

WAN Virtualization technology that combines multiple connections from multiple providers to deliver 100% uptime at a price lower than other QoS products

~ Seamless Carrier Failover

~ Increased Reliability

~ Network Redundancy

~ Fully Managed Service

~ Efficient Network Scalability

~ Bandwidth Aggregation

~ QoS Enabled

~ Low Cost Solution

~ Private WAN enabled

Page 8 of 11

3.1 Customer Description

);o> Multi state business spanning multiple ILEC footprints

);o> Granite primarily serves locations with 3 to 15 POTS lines & 1 DSL or other low bandwidth broadband connection (i.e., retail locations)

);o> Customers' profile I requirements are similar to single location small businesses, though most of Granite's customers operate nationally

);o> Granite's customers value

• Excellent service quality, reliable products • National coverage • Cost savings for required functionality

• Responsive customer support • Choice of suppliers I products I services

);o> Alternatives to wireline?

• Wireless o Coverage, service quality, reliability o Support essential business products, such as fax lines, elevators,

alarm lines that businesses receive from Granite and other competitive carriers?

o Technical requirements? Hunt for lines, blocking, etc. o Existing mobile phone service not an option for retail businesses

• Cable o Cable footprint was not built out to serve businesses o Prohibitively costly to install cable, especially at hundreds or

thousands of sites • Even when cable "passes by" business, it may cost thousands

to build out service

Page 9 of 11

~ Business market is fundamentally different than residential market o Business customers rely on sophisticated features not offered by

residential offering (e.g., call hunting, message waiting, failover, Centrex features).

o Business customers generally rely on more dedicated customer support I larger back offices.

o Requirements for segment of business marketplace that Granite serves may not economically justify CLEC fiber construction

o Call quality and reliability is of paramount concern o FCC has recognized differences in other proceedings, including the

Qwest Phoenix Forbearance Order.

3.2 Risks to Business Customers from Regulatory Proposals

~ ILECs have the only last mile connection at many customer locations

~ Competitors are dependent on reasonably priced last mile connections to provide underlying services

~ At most locations, competitors need access to bottleneck last mile connections regardless of underlying technology

~ Without those connections at locations where the ILEC controls the only last mile connection, competition and national one-stop shopping would be eliminated and customer service and savings would be jeopardized

~ Competitors' access to last mile connections will reduce prices, increase investment and jobs and will speed broadband expansion

~ Rules encourage innovation and new technology

Page 10 of 11

3.3 Ground Rules for Trials

);;> Retail customers should be able to retain the functional equivalent of the present service at its current price, regardless of the underlying technology used.

);;> Retail customers should continue to have choice of service providers • Competitors using wholesale inputs obtained from ILECs should continue to

have wholesale access to underlying facilities or their functional equivalent on rates, terms and conditions similar current access, regardless of the transmission medium.

);;> Fair selection process of trial sites

• Not dictated exclusively by ILEC • Sites that are representative of broader ILEC territory in terms of

geography, climate conditions, population density, mix of residential and businesses, mix of incumbent and competitive providers

• Duration long enough that trial can be predictive of how technology works during all four seasons of the year and under infrequent conditions, such as weather events and power outages

);;> Customers should not be required to purchase additional CPE to maintain functionality

);;> Establish criteria for evaluating trials

• Set benchmarks that include: customer experience, service quality, public safety, preserves or increases competition, increases broadband availability and penetration, reliable model for implementing future technology I regulatory transition

);;> Trials should preserve and encourage competition. Monopolies of the past should not be recreated.

Page 11 of 11