Bell Atlantic has not yet satisfied the required performance standards to open its New York local phone market for competition and should not be rewarded with state approval to provide long-distance service, Sprint officials will tell the New York Public Service Commission today.

As New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer recently observed, Bell Atlantic has made some progress, but continues to provide lesser services to competitors who want to offer New Yorkers a choice in local service than it provides to its own customers. This limits the opportunities for true competition, said David Eisenberg, Sprint vice president, State External Affairs.

Sprint will ask the Public Service Commission to continue the proceedings for Bell Atlantics long-distance request until the company fully meets the 14 federal requirements for being granted long-distance capability in New York.

Competitors who need access to Bell Atlantics equipment to provide service must spend more and face delays and other difficulties in serving their customers as a result of Bell Atlantics failure to fully meet the federal requirements to open its market. The result is that competitors cant provide the same or better service at a competitive price, and therefore cant compete to serve New York residents, Sprint said in recent written comments on the case.

The specific problems, as identified by Sprint and outlined in other testimony in the case, include these:

• Bell Atlantics procedure for allowing competitors to locate their equipment in Bell Atlantics facilities is too long and costly, and often results in incomplete and defective co-location facilities for competitors.
• The companys inefficient procedure for trunking  connecting the Bell Atlantic network with a competitors system  includes delays and other problems that force competitors to delay service to their customers and lose money. Competitors cant tell their customers that Bell Atlantic is to blame for the delay and must bear the brunt of responsibility and complaints from customers.
• Competitors have significant problems using Bell Atlantics Operational Support Systems  the software that allows ordering, service delivery, maintenance and repair  and these disruptions reduce the quality of the competitors service.
• The means by which Bell Atlantic measures its performance in meeting the 14 requirements for being allowed to provide long-distance do not provide an accurate picture of the problems that still exist.
• Bell Atlantics program for allowing competitors to lease individual pieces of its system for use with their own equipment imposes unreasonable and costly restrictions that give the incumbent local phone company a competitive advantage.

The New York Public Service Commission has reviewed this proposal for a long time, and given it a great deal of attention, Eisenberg said. However, if Bell Atlantic hasnt yet finished the job of opening its market to competitors, it is in consumers interest to continue the process until competition will work. New Yorkers deserve a real choice in their local phone service.

Sprint is a global communications company - at the forefront of integrating long-distance, local and wireless communications services, and one of the largest carriers of Internet traffic. Sprint built and operates the United States' first nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network and is a leader in advanced data communications services. Sprint has $17 billion in annual revenues and serves more than 20 million business and residential customers.