Resolution Regarding
Broadband Legislation
In
The 106th Congress
WHEREAS, The stated goal of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (1996 Act) is to provide for a pro-competitive, deregulatory framework “designed to accelerate private sector deployment of advanced telecommunications and information technologies and services to all Americans by opening all telecommunications markets to competition”; and
WHEREAS, Several bills being considered in Congress would amend the 1996 Act to allow the Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) to provide in-region, interLATA data services without first having to comply with the market-opening requirements of the 1996 Act, including the fourteen point “competitive checklist” requirements of Section 271; and
WHEREAS, Some of these bills also contain provisions that would limit State commissions from enforcing the market-opening requirements of Section 251 for data and advanced services, thereby denying States from fulfilling their obligations to regulate core telecommunications facilities used to provide both voice and data services, and to promote deployment of advanced telecommunications capabilities; and
WHEREAS, Soon the majority of traffic carried over the public switched network will be sent over packet-switched networks, and as such, technical distinctions between voice and data will become less relevant; and
WHEREAS, State commissions have been at the forefront of implementing and enforcing the market-opening requirements of the 1996 Act and in working with the BOCs and competitive local exchange carriers to advance BOC progress towards compliance with those requirements; and
WHEREAS, In approving Bell Atlantic’s application to provide in-region, interLATA services in New York, the FCC made it clear that it will rely heavily on the factual record developed by State commissions and the States’ rigorous analysis of the evidence in considering whether to grant future 271 applications; and
WHEREAS, The FCC also stated that it will work in concert with the States to monitor post-interLATA entry compliance by the BOCs; and
WHEREAS, Southwestern Bell recently filed its Section 271 application with the FCC, following an extensive review by the Texas Public Utility Commission, and several other States presently are reviewing BOC compliance with Section 271 requirements; and
WHEREAS, In addition to the coordinated effort on Section
271, the States and the FCC have established a joint conference to cooperatively
address the numerous and complex issues associated with the development and
deployment of advanced telecommunications capabilities to all Americans,
consistent with the objectives outlined in Section 706 of the 1996 Act;
and
WHEREAS, This unprecedented level of coordination and
cooperation by State and Federal regulators to (1) implement the market-opening
requirements of the Act, (2) promote and ensure BOC compliance with Section 271,
and (3) foster the deployment of advanced telecommunications capabilities to all
Americans, demonstrates that the 1996 Act is working as Congress intended; now therefore be
it
RESOLVED, That the Board of Directors of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), convened in its March 2000 Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., reaffirms its support for the 1996 Act; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the NARUC opposes federal legislation that would permit the Bell Operating Companies to provide data services across LATA boundaries without first fully opening their local markets to competition as currently required under the 1996 Act; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the NARUC further opposes federal legislation that would limit the ability of State public utility commissions from exercising their authority and resources to fulfill their obligation to regulate core telecommunications facilities used to provide both voice and data services and to promote deployment of advanced telecommunications capabilities.
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Adopted by the NARUC Board of Directors March 8, 2000