[IP] Bells sue FCC over new telecom rules

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

> Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 08:50:47 -0700
> From: Ari Ollikainen <Ari@OLTECO.com>
> Subject: Bells sue FCC over new telecom rules
> To: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>
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>         Looks like another confusing legal battle looming...LECs unhappy
>         with state PUCs setting sharing rules, instead wanting FCC in
>         control of policy and rulemaking. Tougher to lobby x 50 instead of
>         just at FCC in DC...
>
> Bells sue FCC over new telecom rules
> By John Borland
> CNET News.com
> August 28, 2003, 12:36 PM PT
> URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-5069406.html
>
> Big local phone companies have filed a first round of lawsuits against 
> last week's sweeping overhaul of telecommunication rules, charging that 
> federal regulators violated previous court orders.
>
> In suits they filed separately Thursday, Verizon Communications and the 
> United States Telecom Association (USTA), which represents the former Baby 
> Bell companies, said the Federal Communications Commission acted illegally 
> in giving states the power to manage local phone competition.
>
> As part of its nearly 600-page Triennial Review order, which also laid 
> down new rules for broadband Internet services, the FCC said states could 
> set rules that force the big local phone companies to share portions of 
> their networks with rivals such as AT&T.
>
> "This approach thumbs its nose at the court, which has consistently told 
> the FCC to do its job and set national policy with clear directions and 
> reasonable limitations on the states," USTA Chief Executive Officer Walter 
> McCormick said in a statement. "This ruling really starts to call into 
> question the FCC's ability to be timely, relevant and constructive in 
> today's communications marketplace."
>
> Thursday's lawsuits are just the first round of what many expect to be 
> numerous challenges to the FCC's wide-ranging Triennial Review order, 
> stemming from consumer groups to the largest telephone companies.
>
> The order was a revamp of much of the law that governs competition for the 
> use of telephone lines, which affects voice and Internet services. For 
> voice services, regulators said states could decide which portions of 
> local networks the big phone companies had to lease to rivals to provide 
> competitive service.
>
> That decision was widely viewed as a way to keep in place the existing 
> rules, under which phone companies have to give rivals access to virtually 
> all their components. The former Bells have said this is unfair. A 
> previous court ruling had thrown out the FCC's earlier rules on the issue, 
> prompting regulators to take up the controversial subject as part of the 
> process completed last week.
>
> The FCC also ruled that the big local phone companies could keep exclusive 
> access to new advanced broadband networks such as those that include 
> fiber-optic connections. Consumer groups and Internet service providers 
> have said they are likely to challenge that portion of the ruling.
>
> An FCC representative declined to comment on the lawsuits.
>
> In their lawsuit Thursday, the phone companies' trade association asked 
> the court to relieve them of the obligation to share their networks using 
> the FCC's rules for new customers and to force the commission to keep 
> jurisdiction over the issue. A Verizon representative said the company's 
> lawsuit would be "consistent" with the USTA's suit.
>
>  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>    "Global Crossing and 360networks will battle for global supremacy,
>     but in a trillion-dollar market, there will be no loser."
>                              - George Gilder, Forbes, 2/19/01
>  ----------------------------------------------------------------------

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