Representatives of Qwest and ALTS told lawyers Fri. that the FCC ...
Representatives of Qwest and ALTS told lawyers Fri. that the FCC got some things right and some things wrong in the Commission’s Triennial Review Remand Order (TRRO), though they disagree on most of them. The 2 spoke at a…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
brown bag lunch sponsored by FCBA’s Common Carrier Practice Committee. Qwest Vp Melissa Newman: “After 8 years, the FCC got it right that switching is competitive” and no longer needs to be unbundled. She said Qwest in particular questions the impairment test set by the FCC for when unbundling requirements can be stopped. The tests are based on the number of access lines in a wire center -- for example, 38,000 business lines and 4 colocators must be present before a Bell can stop unbundling DS-3 loops. Newman said Qwest is different from other Bells and doesn’t have very many wire centers with that many lines. She said the FCC also was wrong in deciding special access “is not a suitable method of competition. Competitors are using it.” There’s no better test of competition than whether competitors are using something, she said. Special access may not be as profitable as TELRIC-priced UNEs, “but it does work,” she said. ALTS Gen. Counsel Jason Oxman also cited the FCC’s treatment of special access, but as a positive. It was good the FCC decided “special access is not a substitute for UNEs,” he said. “It’s not correct that CLECs are using special access as a substitute for UNEs.” Some categories of competitors, such as wireless and interexchange providers are using them that way, he said, but CLECs use UNEs,” he said. Oxman said the FCC acted positively in ruling that even after some UNEs are being phased out, Bells have to continue providing them if a CLEC makes a case that it still is entitled to one. Oxman said both CLECs and Bells agree in general on the tier- based test for unbundling elements but don’t agree on the details. “We think the numbers are too low, they think they are too high,” he said. Asked about CLEC concerns that the Bells are too quickly cutting off access to high capacity loops and transport in some central offices, Oxman said “CLECs don’t think LECs should be the universal arbitrators of the math” in determining when a central office meets the impairment test numbers. Newman said Qwest isn’t moving as quickly as some Bells on the high-capacity UNE issues: “We're looking for more guidance from the FCC.”