DALLAS, TX,
October 20, 1999 - Allegiance Telecom, Inc. (Nasdaq:
ALGX) today informed the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) that Bell Atlantic has made substantial
progress in improving its performance in New York.
Following completion of improvements in a couple of
deficient areas, Allegiance expects that Bell Atlantic
will be found to be in complete compliance with each of
the Competitive Checklist items, as outlined in Section
271 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Checklist
items encompass each of the obligations that the Bell
Operating Companies (BOCs) must satisfy in order to gain
authority to provide in-region interLATA long distance
service.
"Bell Atlantic-New York's dramatic progress in
several key areas clearly shows that the company is
approaching full compliance," said Royce Holland,
chairman and chief executive officer of Allegiance
Telecom. "Because of the BOC's substantial progress, the
FCC should allow Bell Atlantic to restart the ninety-day
review period clock if further improvements cannot be
made promptly. This approach, rather than a rejection of
Bell Atlantic's application, would provide just the
right incentive for Bell Atlantic to further improve its
performance in the few remaining areas of deficiency and
would send the signal to other BOCs that good
performance is the key to long distance entry."
"While Bell Atlantic-New York deserves credit for its
efforts to improve its performance, the New York Public
Service Commission and New York State's lawmakers really
deserve the bulk of the credit," said Robert McCausland,
Allegiance's vice president of regulatory and
interconnection. "If it were not for the legislative
authority given to the NY-PSC by the state legislature
and the diligent work undertaken by the Commissioners
and staff of the PSC, Bell Atlantic would never have
progressed this far this fast. New York truly has
established the model by which all others must be
judged."
Allegiance and Bell Atlantic have been working
together since June of 1998 to implement processes and
procedures for switching customers more quickly and
efficiently from one company to the other. On January 7,
1999, the companies announced the first electronic
bonding for unbundled loops.
Allegiance cited key areas where Bell Atlantic's
recent improvements have quickly positioned it into
compliance with obligatory requirements of the Checklist
including the areas of: operations support systems (OSS)
access through the electronic data interchange (EDI)
interface; collocation efforts; and maintenance and
repair performance of unbundled network elements (UNEs.)
In its comments to the Commission, Allegiance also
cited a few remaining areas in which it believes further
improvement by Bell Atlantic-New York is appropriate,
including the BOC's performance in "hot cuts," or
properly coordinating and implementing the transition of
dial tone and digital subscriber line (DSL) customers
onto competitors' networks and in the area of its
installation of trunks that connect to competitors'
networks.
In preparation for the BOC's entrance into the long
distance market, Allegiance suggested that a performance
framework be developed to ensure continuous BOC
compliance with the Checklist. Congruent to Allegiance's
Anti-Backsliding Petition to the Commission on February
1, 1999, Allegiance again informed the Commission that
it is critical to adopt accountable measures for
backsliding of BOC performance in accordance with
upcoming entry into the in-region interLATA market.
Allegiance also recommended to the Commission the
implementation of a "customer liberation" fresh look
policy, allowing customers to discontinue long term
contracts for local exchange and intraLATA and Corridor
long distance services without penalty. Similar to
previous judgments made by the Commission to open
traditionally monopolized markets, this policy would
remove artificial barriers to a competitive market
between competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) like
Allegiance and the incumbent BOCs.
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Allegiance is a
facilities-based competitive local exchange carrier
(CLEC) that offers businesses a complete package of
telecommunications services, including local, long
distance, international calling, high-speed data
transmission and Internet services. The Company is
targeting 24 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. with
its "one-stop shopping" approach. Allegiance is
currently operational in 18 markets including Atlanta,
Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston,
Long Island, Los Angeles, New York, Northern New Jersey,
Oakland, Orange County, Philadelphia, San Diego, San
Francisco, San Jose and Washington D.C.
The Company's web address is http://www.allegiancetele.com/.
Allegiance's common stock is traded on the Nasdaq
National Market under the symbol ALGX. NOTE TO EDITOR:
Royce Holland, chairman and CEO of Allegiance Telecom,
was one of the original founders of MFS Communications
Company, the first major competitor to the Bell System.
As president of MFS, Holland was an industry leader in
developing the competitive provisions of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996, which opened the local
exchange market to competition throughout the U.S. Under
Holland's leadership, MFS grew from a privately held
start-up operation to one of the Nasdaq 100 Index
companies with annual revenue of approximately $1
billion and a market value of approximately $13 billion.
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