Dept. of Justice told FCC Tues. that Qwest’s latest Sec. 271 peti...
Dept. of Justice told FCC Tues. that Qwest’s latest Sec. 271 petition showed improvements, but Commission should investigate at least 2 remaining issues: (1) Qwest’s prices for unbundled network elements (UNEs), and (2) “disturbing” allegations that Qwest had tried…
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to deceive FCC personnel about testing process. Qwest filed new petition Sept. 30 for Sec. 271 entry in Colo., Ia., Ida., Mont., N.D., Neb., Utah, Wash. and Wyo. after FCC concerns about accounting issues forced carrier to withdraw 2 earlier petitions that covered same 9 states. Justice evaluation was part of Sec. 271 process set up by Telecom Act and FCC was required to give it “substantial weight.” DoJ said “the record has improved” on several issues that troubled Justice first time -- “manual order processing, the provision of electronically auditable wholesale bills and the testing of line-sharing orders.” However, it indicated reservations about whether Qwest’s UNE prices were cost-based, saying it “continues to defer to the Commission’s ultimate determination regarding whether prices supporting Qwest’s applications are appropriately cost- based.” DoJ also said it found “troubling” a Qwest memo submitted by AT&T that indicated Qwest might have misled regulators about testing process during their visit to Qwest facilities. According to DoJ, former Qwest employee said in memo that Qwest personnel “diminished the visibility” of certain information when FCC staff visited Qwest’s CLEC Coordination Center. Misleading information dealt with running of Mechanized Loop Test (MLT) on which CLECs relied, according to memo. DoJ said memo was written around time that CLECs were requesting pre-order access to MLT capabilities that Qwest used for itself. Qwest, possibly to avoid having controversial issue raised during regulators’ visit, didn’t mention MLT test when it described provisioning process being viewed by regulators, DoJ said. Justice said Qwest denied action was relevant to Sec. 271 process but admitted “that references to MLTs were removed from chart boards in advance of visits by regulators.” DoJ urged FCC to investigate because “although the substantive effect of the alleged action remains unclear, the procedural implications are disturbing.” Qwest Senior Vp Steve Davis said “we strongly believe we are successfully addressing with the FCC the few issues identified by the DoJ.” Justice’s “positive” evaluation moves Qwest closer to increasing competition by offering long distance service to customers in those 9 states, he said.