Washington, D.C. -- The Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel) today co-signed a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which urges the FCC to "remain steadfast to actions that open markets to competition."

The letter, which was also signed by AT&T, Commercial Internet Exchange (CIX), MCI WORLDCOM, and others, was submitted as an ex parte communication in response to a January 11, 1999 letter to the FCC from the Hon. Larry Irving, Assistant Secretary, Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

"Though the NTIA's letter raises some excellent points, the reality is that the incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) have yet to fulfill the most fundamental requirements of the 1996 Telecommunications Act," said H. Russell Frisby, Jr., CompTel's President. "Unless and until they do so, Congress and the FCC must block any attempts to end run the market-opening requirements that were designed specifically to encourage the development of competition in the local exchange market, including the market for broadband services."

Mr. Irving stated the NTIA's support of several key principles of competitive entry into local telecommunications services markets and emphasized that relieving the Bell companies from the 1996 Telecommunications Act's ban on Bell provision of services between local access transport areas (LATAs) within their operating territories must continue to be conditioned on the Bells' fulfillment of the competitive checklist process under Section 271 of the Act.

However, as the co-signers of today's response stated, the NTIA letter contains several recommendations that could undermine the development of local competition. Specifically, CompTel and the other co-signers of today's response to the NTIA letter warned that the NTIA's suggestions concerning ways that the ILECs could gain further regulatory relief from the restrictions on interLATA activity as an incentive to providing digital subscriber line (DSL) services could hinder the deployment of competitive broadband services.

First, the co-signers noted, the Bells and other ILECs already offer DSL services, particularly in markets where they face competitive challengers. There is ample evidence that suggests that the Bell companies do not face any competitive obstacles to their roll-out DSL services.

Second, the NTIA's proposal to permit the Bell companies to provide DSL services across LATA boundaries through separate subsidiaries overlooks the real-world experiences of CompTel's members and other competitive companies who have found that ILECs are unable and/or unwilling to treat their affiliates and their competitors on equal terms. The dangers of relying on separate subsidiaries are well-known. "It would be particularly dangerous to permit the affiliates to resell ILEC services," noted Mr. Frisby.

Finally, the co-signers of the letter underscored their concerns that the NTIA appears to suggest that the market-opening provisions of Section 251(c) of the Telecommunications Act have been fully implemented. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Act should not be interpreted or applied on a service-by-service basis, and Section 251(c) clearly and deliberately obligates ILECs to fulfill their market-opening obligations regardless of requesting carrier or type of service.