DOJ unable to support BellSouth 271 applications

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced late yesterday that it advised the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) it was “unable to support” BellSouth’s joint application to provide long-distance service in Georgia and Louisiana, given “the current record.”

In its analysis, the Justice Department concluded that “serious questions remain” concerning whether BellSouth’s operations support systems (OSS) are adequate to support the entry of competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) that would lease unbundled network elements from the incumbent. However, the Justice Department said it had “no substantial concerns” concerning the ability of facilities-based CLECs to resell BellSouth’s local voice services.

In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Charles James acknowledged that BellSouth “had made significant strides” in opening local competition in Georgia and Louisiana but emphasized the OSS questions “merit careful attention of the FCC.”

While not getting the endorsement it desired, BellSouth was encouraged by what it did get.

“They didn’t say they opposed the application,” said a BellSouth spokesman. “They also said these concerns could be addressed between now and the time the FCC makes its decision.”

The commission is required to rule on the long-distance application by December 31. BellSouth intends to file a response with the FCC by November 13 that will “point out” to the commission where in the application it can find information pertaining to the DOJ’s concerns.

“We believe we have already addressed them in the boxes and boxes of supporting materials we submitted,” he said.

The spokesman added that five of the seven Section 271 applications that have received FCC approval to date also had been given an “unable to support” recommendation from the DOJ. The most recent was Verizon’s application for Connecticut, which received commission approval in July.