CLECs move to block ‘relaxed’ regulation for Ameritech Ohio

AT&T, CoreComm, LDMI Telecommunications and WorldCom have filed a joint motion with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio seeking to intervene in a proceeding concerning an application filed by SBC Ameritech Ohio last month that allegedly would result in reduced commission oversight of the incumbent.

Specifically, the CLECs accused Ameritech Ohio of attempting to shirk its obligations regarding the resale of DSL services. They want the PUCO to order Ameritech Ohio, and its affiliates that offer DSL services, to comply with the existing DSL resale obligations and called for a hearing to assess the competitive impact of the incumbent’s request for an “alternative form of regulation.”

The motion pointed out that Ameritech Ohio already operates under alternative regulation, and the CLECs said that Ameritech Ohio should “offer additional commitments” in exchange for further alternative regulation.

These commitments would include requiring Ameritech Ohio to: continue providing services via UNE-P; withdraw its application to “dramatically” increase UNE rates and; adjust reciprocal compensation rates.

An Ameritech Ohio spokesman acknowledged that the carrier is operating under alternative regulation, but said the agreement expires in January and that it has simply notified the commission that it will transition to a standard plan created by the PUCO.

"Rather than negotiating separate alternative regulations plans with each incumbent local carrier, it made more sense to establish an off-the-shelf plan that all carriers could opt into," the spokesman said.

The soon-to-expire plan provided for pricing caps on basic services for both residential and business customers, required Ameritech Ohio to make infrastructure improvements such as the deployment of digital switching, and forced the carrier to establish a lifeline program of discounted services for people with financial need. In exchange, Ameritech Ohio was given pricing freedoms for non-core services.

"We provided a variety of benefits to consumers," the spokesman said.

The new one-size-fits-all plan plan also caps prices for basic services. It also will cap some non-core services for a period of two years, then allow for limited increases after that. In exchange, Ameritech Ohio will invest in high-speed Internet access infrastructure and will continue and expand the lifeline program, said the spokesman.

He characterized the CLECs' filing as an "eleventh hour attempt" to rewrite the new standardized plan.

"The commission already reviewed the competitors' comments, rejected them and didn't include them in the alternative regulation rules," he said. "And now, a year after those rules were adopted by the PUCO, the competitors are trying to come back and circumvent the process."