Powell: Baby bells, competitors should negotiate
Posted on: Thursday, 11 March 2004, 06:00 CST
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission chairman said Wednesday the former Bell telephone companies and competitors should negotiate an end to the legal dispute over how best to encourage competition for local service.
Michael Powell asked the companies to try to agree, within 30 days, on fees and conditions for competitors to use the Bells' wires and switches. Without a deal, Powell said he would urge other FCC commissioners to delay for 18 months any changes to existing telephone service.
"I call upon both sides to work earnestly to arrive at commercially negotiated rates for acThe FCC, over Powell's objections, put in place rules in August that allow states to require that Verizon, BellSouth, Qwest and SBC lease parts of their networks at low prices to competitors such as AT&T and MCI.
The idea was that competitors could not afford to build their own networks, but the use of existing ones would be an incentive to break into local phone markets.
The former Bell companies said the rules left them at a competitive disadvantage and took away the incentive to build better networks. A federal appeals court in Washington agreed.
The three commissioners who supported the rules said they would appeal to the Supreme Court. Powell said such an appeal could delay new rules for two years.
Powell's call for talks drew support from the local phone companies.
"We've always believed that it would be best for consumers, the nation's economy and the telecom sector if rates were driven by the market instead of arbitrary regulation," said Walter B. McCormick Jr., president of the U.S. Telecom Association, the phone companies' trade group.
State utility commissioners also applauded Powell's position.
"He has a realistic, practical and progressive approach that we need to rethink the issues rather than continue to litigate at the federal level," said Ohio Public Utilities Commissioner Donald L. Mason.
Related Articles
- Pharma and Biotech Companies Plug into Singapore's Integrated Research Network
- Zvents Launches "Federated Local Search" for Advanced, Integrated, and Relevant Local Search Results
- GainSpan Formally Launches Company and Introduces Wi-Fi(R) Sensor Network Solution
- Drop Seen in New Subscriber Rate for Local Mobile-Phone Operators
- MCI Helps Companies of All Sizes Manage Local Area Networks
- De Beers Scales Up 10-Gigabit Ethernet Technology From Enterasys; World's Largest Diamond Mining Company Completes Standardization on Enterasys' Secure Networks Solution
- AT&T Enters Four New Markets for Local Residential Phone Service and Extends DSL Service to Three Additional Ones
- AT&T Offers Local Residential Phone Services in Florida and Adds DSL
- AT&T Competes with SBC for Wisconsin's Local Residential Phone Service
- Verizon Drops Portability Fight ; Company Would Let Customers Keep Local Cell Phone Numbers
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds