Verizon files to provide LD in Rhode Island

Verizon Communications today filed an application with the FCC to provide long-distance service in Rhode Island. If approved, Rhode Island would become the fifth state in which the incumbent is authorized to provide such service, joining New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

By statute, the FCC has 90 days to review the application and make its ruling. In the meantime, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Rhode Island public utility commission will provide their recommendations to the commission. According to Verizon, the PUC offered its “unqualified support” for the application on Nov. 15. According to a timetable issued today by the FCC, the DOJ evaluation is due Jan. 4, 2002, while the PUC’s comments are due Dec. 17. The commission will make its ruling no later than Feb. 24, 2002.

According to Verizon, independent third-party auditing firm KPMG Consulting verified the operations support systems (OSS) being used by the incumbent in Rhode Island “are the same as those in Massachusetts,” where Verizon won Section 271 approval in April 2001. KPMG concluded Verizon’s OSS in Rhode Island would “provide equivalent or superior” results, said the carrier.

In addition, Verizon claimed that competitive carriers are currently providing service over more than 120,000 local access lines and can offer service over their own networks to at least 75% of the residential and business customers in the state.

“Local competition is already thriving in Rhode Island,” said Donna Cupelo, region president, in a statement.

--Glenn Bischoff, senior news writer