Verizon asked Pa. Supreme Court to grant ‘expedited consideration...
Verizon asked Pa. Supreme Court to grant “expedited consideration” of its appeal of Commonwealth Court’s decision upholding Pa. PUC’s authority to impose full structural separation of Verizon wholesale and retail operations. Verizon told Supreme Court Thurs. that fast action…
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was imperative because PUC had put separation on decision agenda for March 22 meeting and Verizon expected breakup plan and timetable would be adopted. Verizon said if court took long time to decide but ultimately found separation unlawful, carrier would have incurred needless major expense. PUC in Sept. 1999 determined full separation was only way to facilitate development of effective local competition, but Verizon has been fighting that decision ever since. In related matter, competitor-supported Pennsylvanians for Local Competition at news conference Thurs. called on PUC to “ignore Verizon scare tactics and open its monopoly to competition before allowing it to offer long distance.” Group dismissed as nonsense Verizon’s claims that structural separation of telecom in Pa. could have dire consequences similar to those arising in Cal. electric markets from structural separation of utilities. Verizon in response said separation wasn’t needed because local competition already was effective in Pa. Verizon said it was losing 50,000 lines monthly to some 85 operating CLECs in state. It said it processed average 3,500 CLEC service orders daily, with its order- handling performance continually monitored by PUC and CLECs.