SBC’s persistent difficulties in meeting wholesale service perfor...
SBC’s persistent difficulties in meeting wholesale service performance standards prompted Ill. and Mich. regulators to review the carrier’s performance plans. SBC was assessed $3.8 million in penalties by the former Ameritech states for wholesale service performance shortfalls in January,…
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up 62.7% from the $2.34 million paid for Dec. The Mich. PSC adopted a staff recommendation to modify SBC’s performance plan to “increase the incentives” for compliance. Mich. assessed SBC $702,003 for Jan. performance shortfalls, up from $420,972 in Dec., for a total of $8.6 million. Mich. CLECs had complained of inaccurate data in SBC’s compliance reports and urged the PSC to verify the accuracy of the data and to modify the performance plan. The PSC changed the plan to eliminate certain “K-table” factors that amounted to an SBC nonperformance allowance. Those same factors already have been eliminated in Ill., Ind. and Wis. The PSC said the net effect would be to increase the penalties for noncompliance. The agency also ordered SBC to publicize the fines it paid to the state and the credits it gave to CLECs. In Ill., the Commerce Commission staff said it would be reviewing the latest SBC wholesale penalty payments to determine whether the current penalties were providing an adequate incentive for compliance. In Ill., SBC for Jan. must issue $1.9 million in CLEC credits and pay a $743,200 fine to the state. That $2.7 million total is well above the Dec. penalty of $1.6 million, for a total of $46.54 million since July 2000 when the performance enforcement program was implemented in the former Ameritech region. In the other Great Lakes states, Ohio fined SBC $233,245, up from $201,412 in Dec., for a total of $13.8 million. In Ind., SBC was penalized $84,820, up from the Dec. figure of $61,645, for a total of $471,213. SBC also was assessed $92,485 in Wis., up from $23,688 in Dec., for a total of $4.2 million. The Wis. penalties have been stayed pending the final outcome of SBC litigation over the performance plan.