Qwest Appeal Draws Intervention from Verizon, CompTel, XO; More to Come
Verizon, CompTel and XO Communications will intervene in Qwest’s appeal of an FCC decision denying the company a forbearance in Phoenix, court records show. The 10th U.S. Court of Appeals has extended the deadline to allow other intervenors to file briefs in the case, and lawyers for all three filed notices of intention to intervene. The new deadline is Sept. 20.
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Forbearance questions meanwhile “will be in a holding pattern” while the appeal is litigated, said telecom consultant Susan Gately, vice president of economics and technology. “It does have pretty significant strategic ramifications.” The FCC “stepped back to some of its pre-existing ways of looking at a competitive market,” she said. “And that has huge ramifications for the ILECs. I don’t know how any of the parties could not participate."
Verizon and XO filed their notices Tuesday, court records show, and CompTel filed its one Aug. 5. Several more interventions are expected, said an attorney representing competitive local exchange carriers and a one representing an incumbent local exchange carrier. Qwest claimed in its appeal that the FCC unlawfully changed its standard on competition when it rejected Qwest’s petition for a forbearance in Phoenix. Verizon on Monday said it withdrew forbearance petitions in six markets, “given the changing and unsettled nature of the forbearance standard” in the wake of the FCC’s Qwest-Phoenix decision and the ensuing appeal.
"XO is intervening in the 10th Circuit case to support the FCC’s decision … because they got it right,” said Vice President for Federal Affairs Lisa Youngers. “It’s important that it is upheld.”