Frank: Can you believe the antics of USWest>
Colorado rules against US West on unbundling
November 3, 1998
DENVER, COLORADO, U.S.A., Newsbytes via
NewsEdge Corporation : The Colorado Public
Utilities Commission has sided with US West
Inc.'s [NYSE:USW] competitors in a decision
on how US West must provide unbundled
network elements to competitive local
exchange carriers (CLECs). MCI WorldCom
Inc. [NASDAQ:WCOM] has praised the
decision, claiming that it is a clear indication
of anti-competitive practices on the part of
US West, but US West maintains the PUC
has overstepped its jurisdiction.
US West had asked the commission to allow
it to provide network elements such as
switching ports and local loops to
competitors as separate elements, through a
piece of equipment the incumbent carrier
calls a Single Point of Termination (SPOT).
Carriers would have been responsible for
connecting the pieces together. US West
said this provided a clear line between
network elements and between its and the
CLECs' networks, making it easier to isolate
problems. The other carriers said it amounted
to making them provide services to their
customers in an old-fashioned way by
plugging in wires while US West did so mostly
in software.
"US West was proposing that they would
take it apart and we would put it all back
together," MCI WorldCom Senior Attorney
Tom Dixon told Newsbytes.
The commission has ruled in favor of US
West's competitors, stating that US West's
proposal is "neither reasonable nor
non-discriminatory." It stood by its earlier
position that US West must provide whatever
network elements other carriers want as a
connected package.
Dixon said the Colorado decision may be
something of a precedent for rulings by other
state utilities commissions. A number of
states have laws quite similar to Colorado's in
this area, he said, and because the Colorado
commission has been ahead of neighboring
states in many areas of telecom regulation,
other states have looked to it.
However, US West spokeswoman Emily
Harrison told Newsbytes the commission has
overstepped its jurisdiction, because federal
judges have ruled that state PUCs do not
have authority over network element
unbundling by incumbent carriers. Harrison
said the PUC has defied a clear ruling by the
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and her
company has asked a federal court judge to
review the new ruling and hopes his response
might lead the PUC to reverse itself. This is
not a formal appeal, but US West does have
the option of appealing the ruling, Dixon
noted.
Reported By Newsbytes News Network,
newsbytes.com .
(19981030/Press Contact: Carolyn
Berthelette, MCI WorldCom, 303-390- 6593;
Emily Harrison, US West,
303-965-3235/WIRES TELECOM, BUSINESS/)
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