Allegiance Telecom Petitions Fcc To Implement
New Rules To Ensure Continued Telecom Act Compliance By
Baby Bells
Proposed
Rules Would Prevent Backsliding Once RBOCs Are Approved
for Long Distance
DALLAS, TEXAS,
February 2, 1999 -- Allegiance Telecom, Inc. (Nasdaq:
ALGX) announced today that it petitioned the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to enact new regulations
that would be used to prevent Regional Bell Operating
Companies (RBOCs) from backsliding into anti-competitive
practices once they have gained the right to offer
in-region long distance service.
"Allegiance filed this petition since some of the
Bells are currently seeking approval for long distance
authority, with a reasonable likelihood that they will
be successful in one or more states in 1999," said Royce
Holland, chairman and chief executive officer of
Allegiance Telecom. "Once that takes place, steps must
be taken to ensure continued compliance with the
Telecommunications Act's 14 Point Competitive
Checklist."
Under the Act, the RBOCs are obligated to provide
competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) with, among
other things, interconnection, including collocation,
non-discriminatory access to operations support systems
and rights-of-way and unbundled network elements (UNEs).
The RBOCs are required to provide those UNEs at parity
with the retail services that they provide to their
customers. This parity obligation extends not only to
provisioning and installation intervals, but to the
level of quality itself. Congress imposed such
obligations on the RBOCs and charged the regulators with
enforcement.
Allegiance's petition will "put some teeth" into the
enforcement of the Competitive Checklist. It urges the
FCC to: 1) develop and enact a national framework that
would deter and detect backsliding; 2) develop and
implement RBOC "performance criteria" so that all
parties can measure whether they are providing adequate
service to CLECs; and 3) implement a three-tiered
penalty approach-first phase begins with reductions to
UNE prices; second phase suspends the backsliding RBOC's
authority to continue selling in-region long distance
service to new customers; and the third phase involves
substantial monetary fines.
These important aspects of Allegiance's petition
would apply in all states in which similar protections
are not put in place by the state regulators. They would
not apply in states that already have such protections.
For example, it would not apply in New York and Texas,
since their rules were used as the model for
Allegiance's proposal.
In addition, the filing requests that the FCC create
a federal complaint mechanism to ensure that a BOC's
backsliding is formally and expeditiously addressed and
enforcement measures to ensure that, once detected,
backsliding is quickly remedied.
"To realize a fully competitive local market,
customers must be able to change local carriers as
rapidly and seamlessly as they change their long
distance carriers - and as easily as they can obtain new
local phone service from the Bells," said Holland. "This
means approximately five business days from request for
service until installation -- not a month to six weeks.
State Commissions in New York and Texas are striving to
achieve this goal in the Section 271 process and
beyond."
"It is essential that everyone in the process -- the
RBOCs, the CLECs and the regulators -- understand
exactly what their statutory rights and obligations are
and what the provisions in the Act actually mandate in
the real world," added Holland. "If we address the
backsliding issue now with new regulations that set
unambiguous standards, we can avoid the potential for
significant backsliding by the RBOCs, thus protecting
the important progress we have made in creating a
growing competitive marketplace that Congress
envisioned."
Allegiance Telecom, a facilities-based CLEC, offers
businesses a complete package of telecommunications
services, including local, long distance, international
calling, high-speed data transmission and Internet
services. Based in Dallas, Allegiance is targeting 24
metropolitan areas in the U.S. with its "one-stop
shopping" approach. The Company is currently operational
in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Los
Angeles, New York, Oakland, Philadelphia and San
Francisco. Allegiance's web address is http://www.allegiancetele.com/.
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