Washington commission tells Qwest to provide access

(Telephony) The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) has ordered Qwest to provide AT&T with access to Qwest-owned wiring inside apartment buildings that AT&T needs to provide local telephone service.

The order was called an interim action by the WUTC. Both Qwest and AT&T filed complaints against each other involving access to demarcation points at several apartment buildings in the Seattle suburb of Bellingham, Wash.

AT&T alleged that Qwest denied it access by--among other tactics--padlocking the boxes in which the wiring resides, which AT&T claims is a violation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Qwest countered by saying that AT&T didn’t follow necessary procedures that are required for access to occur.

The WUTC is reviewing the case. In the meantime, both companies have been ordered to “make the physical connections necessary for AT&T to provide service and to negotiate business arrangements under which AT&T would pay Qwest for use of the wiring,” according to a statement issued by the commission. Both companies are required to report back to the WUTC by May 4, 2001, on the status of the negotiations.

“We have had several instances of what I would call civil disobedience,” said Tom Pelto, AT&T’s vice president, law and government affairs, western region. “We found wires ripped out of boxes we were interconnecting. And, on one box, we found a note that said, ‘This is not a demarc--stay out …Are you guys dumb.’ We weren’t sure if that was a question mark or an exclamation point.”

But Steve Davis, senior vice president of law and policy countered by saying AT&T is being disobedient.

“We have a three-inch-thick interconnection agreement with AT&T for the state of Washington, but it doesn’t give them access to these points,” Davis explained. “If they want access, all they have to do is enter into an agreement with us where they pay us and agree to only do it in ways that won’t compromise the service we provide to our customers.”

Pat Brogan, assistant director of research for The Precursor Group, says this latest spat is just another example of AT&T trying to delay the inevitable.

“The long-distance industry is looking out at the horizon and seeing a wave of Bell entry coming, and they’re threatened,” he explained. “And when they’re threatened, they have to make some noise. They either try to slow things down or put some barriers in the way.”