Do you have to be a CLEC to rent subloops?

To do anything meaningful in the area of DSL, it is necessary to be able to rent unbundled network elements (UNEs) such as subloops from the ILEC (e.g. Qwest). To do that, you need to enter into an interconnection agreement with the ILEC. On Qwest's web site it says that to enter into an interconnection agreement it is necessary that you become a CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier). To become a CLEC it is necessary to file voluminous papers with the state PUC and to file voluminous papers and reports periodically thereafter. The accounting burdens are profound; for even the smallest CLEC it costs many tens of thousands of dollars annually to satisfy them.

We contacted the Colorado PUC about this, and they said that their view is, as long as we were not providing voice telephone service, we would not need to be a CLEC to enter into an interconnection agreement with Qwest. Qwest fought this but eventually gave in.

Thus, one of the first stops would be your state utility commission. Hopefully they could tell you (as ours told us) that as long as you only pass data and not voice calls, you would not need to be a CLEC to rent UNEs.