Posted 2/01/2002
Bells Hit Speed Bumps in Road to Long Distance Entry
By Kim Sunderland
It's been two steps forward, one step back lately for the Bell operating companies seeking to enter the long distance business.
BellSouth Corp. recently pulled its request with the FCC to offer long-distance in Georgia and in Louisiana, where state regulators already had endorsed the Bell's Section 271 application. (Section 271 is the part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 setting stipulations for the Bell's entry into in-region long-distance.) The surprising move came after the FCC said it had lingering questions about the adequacy of the company's OSS, the integrity of its performance data, its change management process and related issues.
BellSouth, the No. 3 U.S. local telephone company, has yet to win long-distance approval in any of its states in the Southeast.
Meanwhile, Qwest Communications International Inc. plans to file a separate Section 271 bid in March with the FCC to provide long-distance in Arizona. But approval won't be easy. Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano has asked a Pima County Superior Court to rein in Qwest's state operations, alleging the company repeatedly has defrauded phone customers in Arizona by placing unauthorized charges on their phone accounts.
The complaint also alleges that even when consumers complained or contested the charges, Qwest representatives refused to credit consumers' accounts or continued to charge them for unauthorized services, Napolitano said.
SBC Communications Inc. recently got the green light from the FCC to provide long-distance in Arkansas and Missouri, but not without some resistance from the Department of Justice. The DOJ's antitrust division wouldn't support fully SBC's bid in Arkansas and Missouri because of UNE pricing concerns in Missouri. The antitrust division also said SBC's data didn't show problems were resolved for competitors seeking electronic access to the BOC's maintenance and repair systems in both states. SBC already provides long-distance in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
