ADVOCACY ISSUES
Telecommunications: Forced Building Entry

Telecommunications legislation and regulation, at the federal, state, and local levels, must preserve the viability of a free and effective marketplace that respects private property. Forced building entry privileges for telecommunications service providers (TSPs) are unnecessary, unmanageable, and unconstitutional. BOMA and our fellow real estate advocates in the Real Access Alliance are strongly opposed to any such initiatives. We encourage Michigan lawmakers to stand up for the private property rights of building owners and oppose the intrusion of the telecommunications industry onto building owners for their own profitable interests.

In this era of deregulated telecommunications services, some TSPs, rather than marketing their services to building owners and tenants, are seeking government mandates to use others’ private property for their own economic benefit. These interests are asking legislators and regulators to ignore the valid concerns of property owners and tenants by mandating forced building entry.

Mandatory access does not aid building tenants and undermines a successfully working marketplace. BOMA members recognize that pleasing occupants by providing a wide array of choice is our best means of retaining those tenants. Currently, 80% of buildings have more than a single TSP providing service and almost 60% offer access to three or more providers. Moreover, building owners and managers are willing to meet tenants’ requests for specific providers.

BOMA International, in conjunction with the Real Access Alliance and local BOMA’s, has been extremely successful in fighting the efforts of forced access proponents at all levels of government. The forced access community, in spite of its repeated setbacks, continues to scheme at the federal level. A mandatory access provision – that would have mandated that the federal government require multiple service providers for buildings it occupies – was slipped into the FY 02 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill. BOMA and its real estate allies successfully lobbied to have it stripped from the final bill.

Additionally, these very same mandatory access elements are working diligently at the state level. In Texas, Time Warner Telecommunications attempted to use a state statute to gain access to the Geoquest Center in Houston at one tenth of the market rate. Texas BOMA, with the backing of BOMA International and the Real Access Alliance, sued the State of Texas to overturn the law and rules that allow such activities. A district court, recognizing that the case would be appealed, passed on reviewing the matter and deemed the state’s forced access law and rules constitutional. BOMA International remains confident that these will be declared unconstitutional on appeal.

We must ensure that our elected representatives understand that the marketplace is working and that forced access is unnecessary, unmanageable and unconstitutional.