Washington, D.C. -- The Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel) today filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opposing Bell Atlantic's and GTE's request for the creation of a single LATA throughout Bell Atlantic's region. The two companies' request would enable the merged Bell Atlantic/GTE company to continue operating GTE's Internet backbone and services in states where Bell Atlantic has not met competitive checklist requirements it must meet to provide long distance services under the Telecommunications Act's Section 271.

CompTel urged the FCC to deny the Bell Atlantic/GTE request because:

Bell Atlantic has not met its Section 271 requirements, nor has it filed for 271 approval in any state. The FCC "lacks the statutory authority to grant the requested relief" according to CompTel, because the Act expressly prohibits a local monopoly from providing in-region interLATA services before it fully meets the requirements of the Act. "Bell Atlantic has not qualified to provide interLATA services in any state, and the Commission should not accept the possibility of future 271 approvals" as the basis for relief on an interim basis.

Bell Atlantic and GTE have not shown the benefits of granting their request "outweigh the harm to competition and consumer interests." Even if the FCC had the authority to grant the request, CompTel pointed out that the companies are using "public interest language to mask what is in essence a selfish [business] proposal" that affords premature 271 relief for "their own business convenience and profitability." Rather than divest GTE's Internet business and reduce obstacles to 271 approvals as a result of their merger, CompTel asserted the two companies "dismiss[ed] that issue with the cataclysmic speculation that GTE's Internet business and the entire future of Internet competitioncould not survive. [CompTel] submit[s] that divestiture is far more likely to promote broadband competition than subdue it, particularly given GTE's reportedly dismal performance as an Internet service provider."

Bell Atlantic and GTE have not demonstrated sufficient community need or public benefit to justify their request. CompTel said the request in essence creates "a massive new LATA" to preserve GTE's existing business and that this doesn't justify "extraordinary LATA boundary relief."

The potential anticompetitive impacts of the Bell Atlantic/GTE request far "outweigh the need for the relief or any anticipated benefits." CompTel warned the so-called minimal impacts of the request would more likely "disguise the enormous loophole that would be created by the Commission in Section 271" if it granted the request.