The model licensing agreement came together after eight months of work and more than 1,000 comments from landlords, service providers and others. According to the alliance--a group of 11 trade associations pushing for unrestricted opportunities to negotiate with telecommunications providers--the agreement is designed to speed up the delivery of telecommunications services to office building tenants. Members of the Real Access Alliance have promised to speed negotiations with telecom providers that choose to use it, although use of the agreement is considered voluntary.

"Accelerating building use transactions for the benefit of customers has been the driving force behind this process from day one. It remains our top priority," says Alliance spokesman Roger Platt, vice president and counsel for the Real Estate Roundtable. "Our efforts to advance tenant access to competitive telecom services without unwarranted government mandates will continue."

The recent failure of several telecommunications companies such as BroadBand Office, which had the backing of several major real estate investment trusts before announcing it would stop offering service within 30 days, highlights the importance of landlords being able to offer tenants a variety of telecom providers, according to Platt. "The shakeup in the market is something that we are very concerned about because we have repeatedly taken the position that a healthy competition within the industry is good for our tenants," says Platt. "The fewer options there are among the providers, the more leverage the providers have … I am hopeful that what looks like a particularly dark phase of shakeout within the industry will be short-lived."