Phone companies led by AT&T Corp. on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review FCC rules that expired last month, claiming a competitive telecommunications market could regress to an environment dominated by a few companies.
In the filing, AT&T, MCI Inc., XO Communications Inc., Z-Tel Communications Inc. and numerous other phone companies and trade associations allege a ruling by a federal appeals court clashes with Supreme Court decisions and other appellate courts and conflicts with the comprehensive law designed to open the local phone markets to competition: the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Last month, Solicitor General Theodore Olson declined to ask the Supreme Court to review the FCC rules, diminishing the odds that the high court will examine the case, according to legal experts.
The expired regulations have allowed long-distance phone companies to provide millions of Americans local residential phone service by leasing the biggest local phone networks at discounted, government-mandated rates. Many industry executives say the rules have helped spawn innovative packages, including unlimited local and long-distance callings plans, and resulted in billions of dollars in savings for consumers in recent years.
However, the four regional Bells – BellSouth, Qwest, SBC and Verizon – say they have been forced to subsidize their rivals because the wholesale rates are artificially low. Some Wall Street analysts have agreed.
On March 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down the FCC rules, including regulations which designated broad rulemaking authority to state regulators. The wholesale phone rules were taken off the books last month, and the FCC has pledged to write new regulations.
The court upheld broadband regulations the FCC adopted in 2003. The rules free the regional Bells from requirements to lease high-speed Internet networks to competitors. In yesterday’s filing, AT&T and its peers also asked the Supreme Court to review those rules.
