Alaska Communications, USTelecom Oppose GCI Bid To Revisit Equal Access Relief
Alaska Communications and USTelecom opposed General Communications Inc.'s petition for the FCC to reconsider its decision to relieve local telcos of equal access and dialing parity duties in rural Alaska as part of a broader order on a USTelecom forbearance…
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request (see 1601280031). Both entities' opposition filings were posted Tuesday in docket 14-192. The FCC should dismiss GCI's petition as defective, or deny it because it failed to show the commission erred in providing the forbearance relief from the "outdated" rules, said Alaska Communications, which already had told us it would oppose the petition (see 1601290045). "The decision to forbear was a reasoned response to the dramatic changes in the wireline voice market since these requirements were established, and the equal access and dialing parity obligations are no longer necessary for competition and consumer protection going forward," USTelecom said.