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Technology Stocks : Covad Communications - COVD -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jane4IceCream who wrote (1269)	9/23/2000 12:12:54 AM
From: Captain James T. Kirk	Respond to of 10485

COVD expands again ! Canadian Regulators Pave Way For DSL Competitors 09/22/00 OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 2000 SEP 22 (Newsbytes) -- By Steven Bonisteel, Newsbytes. Canadian telecommunications regulators greased the skids for providers of high-speed Internet access with a ruling Thursday that orders incumbent telephone companies to open their networks to a broader range of competitors. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said that the phone companies would have to give providers of digital subscriber line (DSL) Internet connections the same access to unbundled local loops now afforded only to outfits registered as competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs). For companies such as US-based DSL service provider Covad Communications Group Inc. [NASDAQ:COVD], whose petition to the CRTC led to Thursday's order, the change could dramatically speed their entries into Canadian markets. Covad spokeswoman Martha Sessums told Newsbytes that Covad sought the ruling from the CRTC in order to forego the laborious process required to gain CLEC status in individual markets while gaining local-loop access for DSL at same tariffs enjoyed by the facilities-based CLECs and the incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs). Covad is not currently offering services in Canada. In a letters to the CRTC this spring, Covad suggested that Canada was in contravention of the World Trade Organization's international General Agreement on Trade in Services by not offering DSL providers access equal to the CLECs. The CRTC did not indicate whether or not it agreed with Covad's view of international trade law, but it gave phone companies such as Bell Canada, which serves most of Eastern Canada, and Telus Corp., which serves much of Western Canada, 30 days to provide revised unbundled-loop lease agreements reflecting the more- equitable rates. The fee schedule ILECs will now charge the DSL providers was originally drafted as a proposal by Bell. The CRTC's order Thursday approved that document with the proviso that it contain "the same rates, terms and conditions as ... provided to CLECs." The CRTC added, however that DSL providers who are not CLECs will be prohibited from providing switched local voice services over the lines they lease. Covad can be found online at: covad.com .