FCC Proposes Rules for Phone Services' Access
Saturday, April 20, 1996
FCC Proposes Rules for Phone Services' Access
Telecom: Adoption of national standards is meant to foster competition in
the $90-billion local market.
By JUBE SHIVER Jr., Times Staff Writer
In a step toward opening up the local phone business to greater
competition, the Federal Communications Commission on Friday signaled its
intent to adopt national standards that would curb the traditional role of states in
regulating telephone service.
In a 99-page document seeking public comment on its proposals, the
agency sided with long-distance carriers, who favor specific rules covering the
network resources a local phone carrier must make available to rivals.
The FCC's proposals to stimulate competition in the $90-billion local
phone market--issued in response to a far-reaching telecommunications law
enacted in February--are likely to undergo significant change as an army of
telephone industry lobbyists presses alternative plans before the Aug. 8 deadline
for issuing final standards.
Under the new telecommunications law, the nation's local phone
companies must open their phone systems to long-distance companies and other
rivals in one of two ways: A rival could negotiate a wholesale price to gain
access to the local phone company's network to complete calls under a resale
agreement; alternatively, companies with some of their own telephone facilities
could buy use of various services such as call switching or directory assistance.
The FCC's final rules will have a huge impact on the ability of
companies to secure the billions of dollars in financing it will take to enter the
local market, said Regina Keeney, chief of the common carrier bureau at the
FCC.
AT&T estimated it would have to invest about $29 billion to construct
new telephone facilities to reach just 20% of the 117 million telephone access
lines controlled by the seven regional Bell telephone companies.
Those huge capital costs will affect the price consumers pay for
telephone service as well as the speed with which new competitors and
services--such as electronic home banking and high-speed data
transmission--enter the market.
Federal regulators say they will pay particular attention to
counterproposals that further the agency's goal of increasing competition and
driving down rates.
"We really want to make sure the consumer is king," Keeney said.
In its preliminary proposal, the FCC said it tentatively agreed that local
carriers should provide at least four services to potential rivals, including access
to the local phone loop, telephone switches, electronic databases and signaling
systems used to route telephone calls to their destinations. Local carriers have
argued that federal law doesn't require such specificity and that such issues
should be handled through industry negotiations.
The agency's preliminary proposals drew a muted response from
long-distance and local telephone carriers alike, who said they would reserve
judgment until later in the process.
"Most of [the proposal was] pretty well thought out and we were buoyed
by a national standard," said Gerry Salemme, AT&T's vice president of federal
government affairs.
Copyright Los Angeles Times |
