WorldCom Proposes Model for Future of Local Competition
State-Led Process Would Ensure Continued Consumer Benefits
AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In a move that could help determine the future course of local telephone competition, WorldCom today proposed a workable model for the eventual transition of competitive carriers from the Bell-controlled monopoly networks to their own facilities.
In a filing with the Public Utility Commission of Texas, WorldCom's MCI unit recommended a realistic process under which state regulators would launch an investigation to determine the conditions under which it may be appropriate to transition the residential local phone market from reliance on the Bell- controlled network to the competitors' own facilities. The process calls for independent testing and verification of SBC's processes for delivering lines to competitors in a timely, economic and efficient manner.
"The Texas PUC has been a leader in opening local phone markets. By initiating the review we suggest, state regulators will help ensure a smooth and seamless transition for Texans to the next phase in local phone competition while serving as a model for the rest of the nation," said James L. Lewis, WorldCom Senior Vice President for State Public Policy.
Under the proposal, the Texas PUC, telecommunications industry representatives, and consumer groups would jointly investigate the economic and operational barriers facing competitors' eventual transition from the Unbundled Network Element Platform (UNE-P) -- the package of piece-parts of the local phone network leased from SBC Southwestern Bell -- to their own facilities. The PUC also would oversee a third-party test and a market trial in which MCI customers would be migrated off of the Bell network to MCI's own facilities to verify whether systems issues have been resolved.
In its filing, WorldCom noted that SBC and the other Bell companies are waging a strident multi-front attack on the pricing and continued availability of UNE-P, which remains the only viable service delivery mechanism to provide local phone service to the residential and small business market on a wide scale. At the same time, the Federal Communications Commission is undertaking a review to determine which parts of the Bell-controlled local phone network should be available to competing carriers. SBC and the other Bells are pushing the FCC to immediately eliminate the availability of local switching in an attempt to kill UNE-P and stop residential phone competition in its tracks.
"Arbitrarily eliminating UNE-P with no transition plan would lead to chaos and would hand the residential local phone market over to the Bells. With SBC and the other Bell companies aggressively pursuing their efforts to enter long distance markets, eliminating the sole vehicle for broad-based residential phone competition would guarantee Bell remonopolization of the entire residential telecommunications marketplace," Lewis said. "The states should oversee any transition to assure that it is orderly and to assure that local phone customers would continue to be able to switch local phone providers as seamlessly as they change long distance providers today."
The success of MCI's innovative UNE-P-based "all-distance" offering, The Neighborhood, has decisively validated America's desire for competitive local choice as well as the value of UNE-P for the delivery of local phone service. Six years after the federal Telecom Act was approved, consumers are finally beginning to see the benefits of a competitive local phone market with residential competition that is real and meaningful.
"The Texas PUC has created a telecommunications marketplace that invites competitors to enter this market and provide residential service," Lewis said. "If state regulators take the lead in setting the tone for the next era in local phone competition, it will assure that all consumers will reap the benefits -- lower prices and innovative service -- that only comes with broad- based local phone competition."
ABOUT WORLDCOM, INC.
WorldCom, Inc. (WCOEQ, MCWEQ) is a pre-eminent global communications provider for the digital generation, operating in more than 65 countries. With one of the most expansive, wholly-owned IP networks in the world, WorldCom provides innovative data and Internet services for businesses to communicate in today's market. In April 2002, WorldCom launched The Neighborhood theneighborhood.com built by MCI -- the industry's first truly any-distance, all-inclusive local and long-distance offering to consumers for one fixed monthly price. For more information, go to worldcom.com .
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SOURCE WorldCom, Inc.
-0- 12/02/2002
/CONTACT: Stefanie Scott of WorldCom, Inc., +1-512-495-6730, +1-800-644-NEWS, or stefanie.scott@wcom.com/
/Web site: worldcom.com
theneighborhood.com
(WCOM WCOEQ MCWEQ)
CO: WorldCom, Inc.; MCI; Public Utility Commission of Texas ST: Texas IN: TLS UTI SU: |
