UNE Order Based on USTelecom/Incompas Pacts Could Come in Oct.
The FCC's Oct. 27 meeting agenda is expected to include an order on unbundled network elements (UNE) based on the USTelecom/Incompas compromises reached on dark fiber transport and loop issues (see 2009150063), industry officials told us. Chairman Ajit Pai applauded the agreements at last week's Incompas show, saying he hoped for FCC support for them (see 2009150069).
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"We feel cautiously optimistic” the agreements will have strong support at the agency, Incompas CEO Chip Pickering told us. He said the agreements have “been universally perceived as a very good thing," in joint advocacy with USTelecom at the FCC. USTelecom hopes for a UNE order "as soon as possible," said Senior Vice President-Policy and Advocacy Patrick Halley. The FCC didn't comment Wednesday.
ILEC and CLEC interests said they expect the order or orders to likely closely follow the USTelecom/Incompas agreements. A CLEC company executive said the agency should be happy because commissioners wanted some accord and settlement. CLEC and ILEC interests said it would be difficult to issue a draft order that changed some terms without jeopardizing the broad ILEC and CLEC consensus, due to interrelated issues in the pacts. An ILEC executive said the agency is likely to closely follow the agreements since they have signoffs from a big majority of UNE buyers and sellers.
USTelecom and Incompas said they haven't reached a deal on avoided cost resale and don't expect to. Pickering said the FCC likely will address that in its expected October order separate from the Incompas/USTelecom agreements. The UNE NPRM adopted in November (see 1911220052) proposed extending the non-price cap incumbent LEC service areas regarding avoided-cost resale in price cap incumbent LEC service areas.
The ILEC and CLEC interests were far apart on UNE issues when starting their talks in recent months, but Incompas members saw the writing on the wall about UNE obligations on ILECs ending, a CLEC company official noted. He said for Incompas members, negotiations were about trying to scratch out a better deal than they likely would get staying on the sidelines, since there already was an NPRM. Halley said USTelecom wanted to avoid litigation over a UNE order. USTelecom and Incompas "both appreciate having certainty to what the rules of the road will be," he said.
In negotiations and subsequent agreements, one key issue for Incompas was CLECs having unbundled access to all dark fiber transport arrangements for eight years, with ILECs not increasing rates for access to the unbundled dark fiber during that time, Pickering said. For USTelecom, a must-have was elimination of unbundling rules, Halley said. The competitive market justifies gong that route, he said: "It was just a question of when and how."