So far more than 1,000 comments have been received, and all comments are due by April 6. The draft agreement, which can be seen at full at www.realaccess.org, came about after the alliance and real estate companies pledged to the Federal Communications Commission that they would take action to ensure telecom providers have access to office buildings.

While the FCC wants to ensure that telecom providers have building access in order to foster competition, building owners and managers had concerns about allowing telecom companies allowing full, unregulated access. The alliance represents 11 trade associations who support unrestricted, free market opportunities to negotiate with telecommunications providers for safe, dependable services in buildings on behalf of their tenants.

"In deciding whether to incorporate suggested changes, the alliance focused on whether the proposed edits would have demonstrable benefits for tenants," says Alliance representative Roger Platt. "Our primary objective is to expedite building use transactions between telecommunications providers and commercial property owners so that customers have access to an array of telecom service choices even faster than before."

Comments should be submitted to the Real Access Alliance, c/o Nelson F. Migdal, Holland & Knight LLP, 2099 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20006. They may also be sent by e-mail to [email protected].