Posted on: Friday, August 22, 2003
FCC issues rules on local phone competition
| • | Phone number rule debate is hardly over |
By Jonathan D. Salant
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission yesterday issued its long-awaited rules for telephone and Internet competition, giving states more authority to determine which phone companies operate within their borders.
The FCC said, however, that the major regional companies that install high-speed fiber optic lines may keep them off-limits to Internet rivals.
The rules are the result of contentious 3-2 FCC votes in February. Chairman Michael Powell was on the losing end in the vote.
Yesterday's 576-page order is far from the final word on the subject; the rules are expected to be challenged in court.
"There are some important achievements in this order that have long been objectives of mine — namely substantial broadband relief," Powell said. "Yet, regrettably, there are some fateful decisions as well that I believe represent poor policy and flout the law."
Commissioner Michael Copps, part of the three-member majority on phone competition, offered the opposite view.
"We preserve essential tools to foster voice competition," Copps said. "The bad news is this decision plays fast and loose with the country's broadband future. Consumers, innovation, entrepreneurs and the Internet itself are going to suffer."
The order gives states the right to require the Bells to lease elements of their networks, such as lines and central office switching capabilities, to competitors at wholesale rates. To foster competition in residential service, companies such as AT&T and MCI enjoy low lease prices set by friendly state regulators.
The FCC adopted the policy of requiring the phone companies to lease parts of their networks at wholesale rates seven years ago to encourage competing companies to offer local service while giving the Bells the chance to enter the long-distance business.
