The FCC denied a petition from SBC Communications requesting that Title II common carrier regulations not be applied to IP services -- The petition was denied on procedural grounds rather than as a matter of policy. In February 2004, SBC filed a petition asking the FCC to forbear from applying Title II common carrier regulation to IP Platform Services, which it defined as "those services that enable any customer to send or receive communications in IP format over an IP platform, and the IP platforms on which those services are provided." In this ruling, the FCC reasoned that it would be inappropriate to grant SBC�s petition because it asks the FCC to forbear from enforcing requirements that may not even apply to the facilities and services in question. The FCC has not yet decided the extent to which IP-enabled services are covered by Title II and its implementing rules. Therefore, the FCC cannot forbear from applying rules that have not yet been defined.
The global cloud computing market is undergoing new significant growth, driven by the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and the demand for flexible, scalable infrastructure. The recent market study by International Data Corporation (IDC) provides compelling evidence of this transformation, highlighting the accelerating growth in cloud infrastructure spending and the pivotal role of AI in shaping the industry's future trajectory. Shared Infrastructure Market Development The study reveals a 36.9 percent year-over-year worldwide increase in spending on compute and storage infrastructure products for cloud deployments in the first quarter of 2024, reaching $33 billion. This growth substantially outpaced non-cloud infrastructure spending, which saw a modest 5.7 percent increase to $13.9 billion during the same period. The surge in cloud infrastructure spending was partially fueled by an 11.4 percent growth in unit demand, influenced by higher average selling prices, primari