<.. Is there news?..>
I doubt this is it, but still of interest:
Supreme Ct Agrees To Review Local Phone Competition Case
By Scott Ritter
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The Supreme Court Monday agreed to review a lower court's ruling that overturned landmark federal rules aimed at bringing competition to the $100 billion local telephone market.
The High Court, without comment, agreed to hear a challenge brought by the Federal Communications Commission and several long-distance carriers. Arguments will likely be held this spring, and a decision could come by early summer.
At issue is a July ruling by a three-judge panel from the Eighth U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. The panel concluded that the FCC overstepped its bounds when it set guidelines for prices would-be rivals would pay for access to local phone networks.
That ruling was a big victory for local carriers, who argued that the
states - not the federal government - had the power to determine so-called "interconnection" rates under the 1996 Telecommunications-reform law. The Clinton administration, along with long-distance carriers like AT&T Corp. (T) and MCI Communications Corp. (MCIC), challenged the ruling.
The FCC favors a pricing regime based on forward-looking costs, rather than historical, embedded costs that local phone companies argued were a more appropriate gauge for figuring pricing.
The Supreme Court's decision to hear the case follows a related ruling by the St. Louis appeals court last week. In that decision, the court said the FCC can't mandate interconnection prices as a prerequisite for entering the long-distance market.
Under the 1996 telecom law, regional Baby Bells that can show they have taken steps to open their markets to competition can win approval to jump into the $80 billion long-distance market.
But the FCC, in reviewing an application by Ameritech Corp. (AIT) to offer long-distance calling in Michigan, laid out pricing requirements local carriers must follow to win long-distance approval. Local carriers and state regulators quickly filed suit in the St. Louis court. The FCC is expected to appeal the ruling. |
