Posted 09/2000
Rules Briefs
The FCC again postponed the Sept. 6 auction of licenses in the 700 MHz band, which have been used exclusively for TV broadcasting. Now, though, competitive carriers want the spectrum for a variety of wireless services, including fixed and mobile Internet access. But they'll have to wait until March 6, 2001 for the auction. The FCC wanted to provide additional time for bidder preparation and planning. The filing deadlines begin in February 2001.
SBC Communications Inc. (www.sbc.com) filed in-region interLATA bids with state regulators in Nevada and Arkansas and hopes to ask the FCC for Section 271 approval in those states by December. Similar applications can be expected soon from BellSouth Corp. (www.bellsouth.com) and Verizon Communications (www.verizon.com).
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain is officially out of the race as Texas Gov. George W. Bush's vice presidential running mate. Bush's VP choice is former Defense Secretary Richard B. Cheney, chairman and CEO of Halliburton Co. (www.halliburton.com), a huge oilfield services and construction firm. McCain, who made his own run for the Republican nomination, was one of the few in Congress who voted against the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
In other news from the beltway, Roy M. Neel, president of the United States Telecom Association (www.usta.org), took a leave of absence to join Al Gore's run for office. Neel has said he'll return to his USTA post following the election, but as a long-time friend of Gore, it's possible that if Gore wins the presidency, Neel might be asked to join the White House staff in some capacity.
CLEC trade group ALTS (www.alts.org) called on the FCC (www.fcc.gov) not to adopt "detariffing" of CLEC interstate access services. The FCC has proposed removal of tariffs that outline rates CLECs use to bill IXCs for completing interstate calls, a move that would effectively require CLECs to separately negotiate rates with hundreds of long-distance providers, ALTS says. The removal of tariffs on interstate access services would hinder competition and could lead to higher costs for consumers, the group says.
FCC (www.fcc.gov) Chairman William E. Kennard is getting ready to consider the issue of multiple ISPs gaining access to a cable company's platform. The FCC will decide whether high-speed data over cable lines is a cable or a telecom service, but a schedule for this has yet to be set. Kennard says that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' (www.ca9.uscourts.gov) decision in the AT&T v. City of Portland case confirms the FCC's role in establishing a national broadband policy. The court ruled that cable-delivered Internet access qualifies as a telecom service. The cable vs. telecom service distinction is critical because the FCC requires telecom service providers to open their networks to competitors. While he favors open access, Kennard believes that government regulation forcing open access isn't the best approach. Instead, he wants market forces to resolve the debate.
In North Carolina, ITC^DeltaCom Inc. (www.itcdeltacom.com) won a reciprocal compensation ruling against BellSouth Corp. (www.bellsouth.com). The ruling followed an arbitration decision earlier this year that found provisions of the current interconnection agreement between ITC^DeltaCom and BellSouth apply to Internet calls. BellSouth owes ITC^DeltaCom somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 million for completing ISP calls prior to July 1, 1999.
