British Telecom (BT) is keeping its promise to open its network to rivals, but there’s a “significant amount of work still to do,” the U.K. Office of Communications (Ofcom) said Wed. Since a sweeping 2005 telecom review ended in BT being told to clean up its act or face an antitrust probe, the incumbent “has shown itself committed” to delivering on its undertakings and has achieved several key goals, Ofcom said. These include formation of a new business unit to ensure competitors have the same access to the network as BT’s own businesses. But implementing the “equivalence of access” condition has raised issues, some still unresolved, Ofcom said. They include ensuring that BT’s retail business uses exactly the same broadband product bundle as other ISPs, better service performance for key products like local loop unbundling provisioning and repair and a more customer- oriented approach to wholesale issues such as migrations and new products. The BT conditions are having positive effects on industry, Ofcom said. Infrastructure-based competition seems to be rising in broadband and fixed-voice, with fewer signs of development in fiber-based services. It’s early to assess the full impact of its new regulatory approach, Ofcom said, but consumers are seeing better services, more choice and lower prices. However, some businesses and residential customers are having problems comparing price and quality of communications providers, and large commercial consumers say switching advanced data services is often difficult, Ofcom said. It will focus on consumer experiences in a report to be published in Nov.

The La. Supreme Court agreed to hear a municipal broadband appeal by the city of Lafayette of a state appellate court ruling that struck down a city bond ordinance to raise $125 million to finance such a network. The appeals court, ruling on a suit brought by a city resident, said a provision in the ordinance allowing market-rate loans between the city’s municipal electric utility and its telecom enterprise to cover bond payments was an illegal cross- subsidy of the telecom venture by the electric utility. The city argued that the appeals court misinterpreted the antisubsidy provisions of the state Local Government Fair Competition Act and said its financial arrangements weren’t a subsidy as defined by the law.

The La. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal by the city of Lafayette of a state appellate court ruling striking down a city bond ordinance to raise $125 million to finance a municipal public telecom network. The appeals court, ruling on a suit brought by a city resident, said a provision in the ordinance allowing market-rate loans between the city’s municipal electric utility and its telecom enterprise to cover bond payments was an illegal cross-subsidy of the telecom venture by the electric utility. The city argued that the appeals court misinterpreted the antisubsidy provisions of the state Local Government Fair Competition Act and said its financial arrangements weren’t a subsidy as defined by the law.

British Telecom (BT) is keeping its promise to open its network to rivals, but there’s a “significant amount of work still to do,” the U.K. Office of Communications (Ofcom) said Wed. Since a sweeping 2005 telecom review ended in BT being told to clean up its act or face an antitrust probe, the incumbent “has shown itself committed” to delivering on its undertakings and has achieved several key goals, Ofcom said. These include formation of a new business unit to ensure competitors have the same access to the network as BT’s own businesses. But implementing the “equivalence of access” condition has raised issues, some still unresolved, Ofcom said. They include ensuring that BT’s retail business uses exactly the same broadband product bundle as other ISPs, better service performance for key products like local loop unbundling provisioning and repair and a more customer- oriented approach to wholesale issues such as migrations and new products. The BT conditions are having positive effects on industry, Ofcom said. Infrastructure-based competition seems to be rising in broadband and fixed-voice, with fewer signs of development in fiber-based services. It’s early to assess the full impact of its new regulatory approach, Ofcom said, but consumers are seeing better services, more choice and lower prices. However, some businesses and residential customers are having problems comparing price and quality of communications providers, and large commercial consumers say switching advanced data services is often difficult, Ofcom said. It will focus on consumer experiences in a report to be published in Nov.

The U.S. Trade Representative has provided an update on the status of the 2005 ATPA/ATPDEA Annual Review, which also includes remaining petitions from the 2004 ATPA/ATPDEA Annual Reviews whose results will be issued as part of the 2005 Annual Review. The USTR states that the issues raised by the petition filed by LeTourneau of Peru, Inc. with respect to Peru have been resolved and that its review is being terminated. With respect to the other pending petitions, the USTR is modifying its schedule so that the 2005 Annual Review continues through December 31, 2006, which is the period the ATPA/ATPDEA is in effect. (USTR notice, FR Pub 10/04/06, available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/E6-16421.pdf )

An FCC vote on the BellSouth-AT&T merger at today’s (Thurs.) meeting appeared in doubt at our deadline. Detailed talks between Chmn. Martin and the Democratic commissioners are just beginning, sources said and seem less advanced than at the same point before a July vote on the Adelphia/Time Warner/Comcast license transfer. Complicating things is that Martin leaves Sat. morning for Asia, making it tough to move the meeting date. Wed.’s DoJ approval came amid questions about Tunney Act oversight and possible department maneuvering to avoid it.

An FCC vote on the BellSouth-AT&T merger at today’s (Thurs.) meeting appeared in doubt at our deadline. Detailed talks between Chmn. Martin and the Democratic commissioners are just beginning, sources said. Complication: Martin leaves Sat. morning for Asia, making it tough to move the meeting date.

Rural carriers are raising red flags about what could happen to some of the smallest carriers if the FCC institutes reverse auctions to make USF distribution more efficient. Comments varied widely on this and other proposals to restructure the distribution side of USF.

Spamhaus will fight a U.S. federal court order barring it from blocking e-mails by an Internet marketer it deems a spammer, it said Tues. The case -- e360 Insight LLC v. Spamhaus -- took an interesting turn late last week when the plaintiff asked U.S. Dist. Court, Chicago, to cite spam-cop Spamhaus for contempt and order ICANN to suspend its domain name. It also raises questions about risks to legitimate e- mailers from overly zealous spam-busting, one lawyer said.

A judge should stop Sinclair Bcst. from tying retransmission consent fees for some of its CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates to carriage agreements for its more- watched ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox affiliates, Mediacom said in an antitrust suit filed Thurs. in U.S. Dist. Court, Des Moines. A Mediacom SEC filing hinted that talks with Sinclair had stalled (CD Oct 2 p12). Since Oct. 2005, the companies have been negotiating carriage terms for Sinclair’s 13 major network affiliated stations in Mediacom’s footprint.