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To: Ian@SI who wrote (10377)	3/18/1999 1:46:00 PM
From: pat mudge	Respond to of 18016

March 18, 1999 13:40 U.S. FCC seeks to boost local phone competition WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) - Federal regulators seeking to jump start local telephone competition on Thursday approved new rules to help upstart carriers, making it easier for them to connect to established networks. The Federal Communications Commission's order would require regional Bells and GTE Corp. to make it easier for new carriers to place equipment in their central offices -- a critical need for the new carriers. The FCC already has rules requiring the major carriers to allow so-called co-location as mandated by the 1996 Telecommunications Act. But many upstart carriers, especially companies seeking to offer high-speed Internet services, complain that the current rules are too weak and they are often shut out of key central offices or are charged exorbitant rates to rent space. The Bells and GTE argue that space is limited in many of their busiest central offices but they have done their best to allow other carriers to hook in. The new rules will allow upstart carriers to install equipment without having to build expensive cages separating their equipment from that of the dominant carrier. The rules also allow a new carrier to visit any central office where a dominant carrier says space has run out. The issue is central to developing more competition in the $100 billion local phone market, because co-location allows new companies to begin offering service without duplicating all of the existing infrastructure. Having to rebuild the local loops of copper wire that go into every customer's home would be prohibitively expensive so the Telecom Act requires the Bells to lease access to such network components and allow competitors into their offices to connect to the system. The order approved by the FCC on Thursday did not include another proposal the agency is working on to stimulate competition for high-speed Internet access services. The major carriers offer high speed hook-ups using a technology called Digital Subscriber Line service that can pump information over ordinary copper phone lines at speeds up to several hundred times faster than an ordinary modem. The FCC proposal, likely to be approved in coming months, would allow the major carriers to sell DSL to their customers without having to lease the new equipment they installed to offer the service to other competing carriers. But to be exempted from the leasing rules, the major carriers would have to offer DSL through a separate subsidiary that had to purchase or lease access to its parent carrier's own basic equipment like the local loop going directly into the homes of customers. The Bells have asked the FCC to go farther and broadly lift leasing requirements on DSL equipment and restrictions on their data services to allow them to offer Internet backbone services

To: Ian@SI who wrote (10377)	3/18/1999 1:49:00 PM
From: pat mudge	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18016

If ALTS approves, it must have teeth: March 18, 1999 13:21 ALTS Praises FCC Collocation Decision; FCC Opts for ALTS Position on Cageless Collocation and 'Walkthroughs' WASHINGTON, March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS), the leading national organization representing facilities-based competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), today praised an FCC Order which allows competitors to use "cageless" collocation vs. more costly physical collocation methods, and which assures "walkthrough" inspections of incumbents' telephone central offices. Both moves are seen as victories for the CLECs, significantly reducing the new competitors' costs and providing a means to assure that incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) comply with collocation requirements. For example, ILECs have more often than not claimed that they have no space to collocate CLECs, when in fact space exists. Walkthrough inspections will determine the validity of ILECs' claims regarding space availability. "The FCC's decision is a major victory for the CLECs, who have now a more cost-effective means to collocate, plus the guarantee that the ILECs will be closely monitored on collocation," said John Windhausen, Jr., ALTS President. "ALTS has taken the lead in fighting for fair treatment of competitors on this vital issue. As the final details of the Order become available, ALTS is confident that the Commission will be seen as granting many -- if not all -- of the provisions outlined in our collocation petition." ALTS is the leading national industry association whose mission is to promote facilities-based local telecommunications competition. Located in Washington, D.C., the organization was created in 1987 and represents companies that build, own, and operate competitive local networks. For information on ALTS, contact Jim Crawford at 703-715-0844 or visit the ALTS Web site at www.alts.org. SOURCE Association for Local Telecommunications Services /CONTACT: Jim Crawford, 703-715-0844 or crawfordpr@aol.com, for ALTS

To: Ian@SI who wrote (10377)	3/18/1999 3:29:00 PM
From: pat mudge	Respond to of 18016

March 18, 1999 14:15 Competition Bureau Rules For Bell Canada On ADSL Jump to first matched term OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1999 MAR 18 (NB) -- By Grant Buckler, Newsbytes. The Canadian government's Competition Bureau has denied the Canadian Association of Internet Providers' (CAIP) application to ask the federal Competition Tribunal for an order preventing Bell Canada from offering asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) Internet access service to customers at less than the cost of providing the service. The Internet service providers (ISPs) have protested for some months Bell Canada's ADSL offerings, which start at 39.95 Canadian dollars per month, arguing that Bell charges ISPs significantly more than that for the ADSL access services they need to offer their own ADSL services to customers. Bell Canada has said its charges to ISPs reflect the cost of providing the service, and its Sympatico ISP arm is offering the services at a loss in order to compete with cable television firms' cable-modem services -- which are largely priced at 39.95 Canadian dollars per month -- and to develop the ADSL market. The Competition Bureau said in a statement that the Internet market in Canada is highly competitive, and that an order preventing Bell from offering ADSL at less than cost would impede the introduction of the new technology. John Nemanic, president of CAIP, told Newsbytes he had not studied the decision in detail but "I'm not too thrilled from what I've heard." The CAIP has also filed a complaint with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the national telecom regulator, about Bell's ADSL pricing. Nemanic expressed some optimism his association might have more luck there. "I believe that the CRTC is digging into the issue a little bit deeper," he said. Bernard Courtois, vice-president of regulatory affairs at Bell Canada, told Newsbytes he is pleased with the Competition Bureau ruling. "I think it reflects sound economics and the fact that they did do a good investigation of what was going on," he said. While the CRTC could take a different position, Courtois said, Bell is hopeful that the commission is looking at the same facts as the Competition Bureau and will reach similar conclusions. Bell has proposed new arrangements to the ISPs that will reduce their costs, though so far the CAIP has remained dissatisfied with the proposals. Courtois said new, lower-cost services for ISPs could be commercially available this summer. Reported By Newsbytes News Network, newsbytes.com 13:05 CST