Reporter’s notebook: Regulatory and policy

ALTS

President John Windhausen and CompTel President Russell Frisby today sent a joint letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell that urged the commission to seek Supreme Court review of the United States Court of Appeals – District of Columbia order that remanded the FCC’s local competition and line-sharing orders. The FCC had petitioned the D.C. Circuit to rehear its order on the basis that the decision was inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year that affirmed the FCC’s TELRIC (total element long range incremental cost) pricing formula for unbundled network elements. The D.C. Circuit rejected that petition last week. The ALTS/CompTel letter said that should the D.C. Circuit’s decision stand, all future commission decisions would have to be based on two conflicting legal standards, which would undermine the credibility of those decisions. Such an environment would lead to “more, not less, [regulatory] uncertainty and continued legal wrangling,” said the letter.

The Florida Public Service Commission this week unanimously recommended that BellSouth, be allowed to provide long-distance service in the state under Section 271 of the Telecom Act. According to third-party tester KPMG, BellSouth passed 97% of the 1000 indices used to test the carrier’s operational support systems. BellSouth currently offers long-distance service in Georgia and Louisiana.

Verizon Communications this week asked the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to investigate complaints filed by its customers alleging that MCI/WorldCom switched their service without their permission. Verizon said it had received about 850 slamming complaints against MCI/WorldCom in the past few weeks. SBC Communications made a similar request of the Illinois Commerce Commission in July, saying it had received from its customers about 1000 slamming complaints against MCI/WorldCom.

--Glenn Bischoff, Senior Writer