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Thanks, Allison!
----- Forwarded by Sue Nord/NA/Enron on 02/09/2001 03:43 PM ----- =09Allison Navin =0902/09/2001 10:08 AM =09=09 =09=09 To: Stephen D Burns/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Sue Nord/NA/Enron@Enron, Scott= =20 Bolton/Enron Communications@Enron Communications =09=09 cc:=20 =09=09 Subject: Re: TR Daily, February 05, 2001 The report is attached. The date on the cover of the report says February,= =20 2000, but it is in fact February, 2001. =09Stephen D Burns =0902/06/2001 03:30 PM =09=09=20 =09=09 To: Allison Navin/Corp/Enron@ENRON =09=09 cc:=20 =09=09 Subject: TR Daily, February 05, 2001 Can you? ----- Forwarded by Stephen D Burns/Corp/Enron on 02/06/2001 02:29 PM ----- =09Sue Nord =0902/06/2001 01:31 PM =09=09=20 =09=09 To: Stephen D Burns/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Scott Bolton/Enron=20 Communications@Enron Communications =09=09 cc:=20 =09=09 Subject: TR Daily, February 05, 2001 Would Allison be available to track down a copy of the consumer groups repo= rt? ----- Forwarded by Sue Nord/NA/Enron on 02/06/2001 01:30 PM ----- =09"Telecommunications Reports International, Inc." <trnews@tr.com< =09Sent by: root@chrivh40.cch.com =0902/05/2001 06:03 PM =09=09=20 =09=09 To: "Telecommunications Reports International, Inc." <tr_news_letter= @cch.com< =09=09 cc:=20 =09=09 Subject: TR Daily, February 05, 2001 -------------------------------------------------- Telecommunications Reports presents.... TR DAILY February 5, 2001 -------------------------------------------------- PLEASE NOTE: This electronic publication is copyrighted by Telecommunications Reports International. Redistribution or retransmission of any part of this electronic publication -- either internally or externally -- is strictly prohibited. Violation will be cause for immediate termination of your subscription and liability for damages. You may print out one hard copy for your personal use. If you are interested in having this publication sent to colleagues at your company, additional authorized recipients may be added to your subscription for a fee. Call Subscriber Services at (800) 822-6338, or send an e- mail to info@tr.com for more details. If you prefer not to receive TR Daily, please reply to customerservice@tr.com. -------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents Click here for the full issue: http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2001/td020501/index.htm FRUSTRATED JUDGES FOCUS ON BACKGROUND IN `AVERAGE SCHEDULE' CASE http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2001/td020501/Td020501.htm CLECs WANT RECORD ON PACIFIC BELL InterLATA SERVICE BID `REFRESHED' http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2001/td020501/Td020501-01.htm CONSUMER GROUPS CALL FOR `PRO-COMPETITIVE' FCC ACTION http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2001/td020501/Td020501-02.htm MOBILE PHONE INDUSTRY FACES LATEST HEALTH-RELATED LAWSUIT http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2001/td020501/Td020501-03.htm ILECs: `DISTORTIONS' FROM `RECIP COMP' COULD GET WORSE http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2001/td020501/Td020501-04.htm NEWS IN BRIEF http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2001/td020501/Td020501-05.htm ******************************************************* FRUSTRATED JUDGES FOCUS ON BACKGROUND IN `AVERAGE SCHEDULE' CASE Appeals court judges today vented their exasperation at the inability of attorneys to explain how universal service support for each small, "average schedule" company is determined. The attorney representing the FCC bore the brunt of the judges' frustrations and, at times, caustic comments on that issue. But on the legal issues, the lawyer representing the National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc., in its challenge to an FCC decision seemed to take the harder hits. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington must decide whether the FCC acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" in prescribing a 6.5% increase in "average schedule" universal service support. "Average schedule" companies use formulas derived by NECA and approved by the FCC to approximate their per-loop costs of providing service. This is in contrast to so-called "cost companies," which perform studies to calculate their actual per-loop costs. The case marks the first time that NECA, which the FCC has charged with updating the formula used by "average schedule" companies to calculate universal service support, has asked the court to review an FCC order, NECA attorney Richard A. Askoff pointed out during oral arguments this morning. The judges spent as much time seeking information on how the "average schedule" mechanism works as they did questioning attorneys about their legal arguments. Judge David S. Tatel asked for clarification of how the "average schedule" formula was applied to individual companies. After FCC attorney Laurel Bergold spent nearly all her allotted time in an unsuccessful attempt to clarify that aspect of the case, Chief Judge Harry T. Edwards commented, "We get hard things from the FCC, but this [case] is bizarre." Mr. Askoff apparently cleared up the matter for the judges during his rebuttal arguments. He explained that certain data (such as the number of loops per exchange) is plugged into the "average schedule" formula to determine a given carrier's amount of support. But Mr. Askoff faced some tough questions from Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg regarding NECA's argument that it hadn't received proper notice of the FCC's intention to prescribe the 6.5% adjustment. Judge Ginsburg wondered what NECA would have said to the FCC, if it had received notice, that it didn't say in advocating a 33% increase in universal service support for "average schedule" carriers. Mr. Askoff said NECA would have discussed the "fallacy" of the FCC's belief that universal service support should be tied to growth in the number of local loops. Judge Edwards replied that NECA already had made that argument before the FCC. The case ("National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc., v. FCC," no. 00- 1055) stems from an FCC decision to reject NECA's proposed "average schedule" universal service formula for 1998-1999. ******************************************************* CLECs WANT RECORD ON PACIFIC BELL InterLATA SERVICE BID `REFRESHED' The California Office of Ratepayer Advocates, several trade associations representing competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), and nine individual CLECs have asked the state Public Utilities Commission to "refresh" its record on Pacific Bell's compliance with federally mandated market-opening standards before deciding whether the telco has met those standards. In a joint petition filed Friday, Feb. 2, they argued that the record in th= e proceeding was "too stale" for the commission to reach credible conclusions about Pacific Bell's compliance with the market-opening mandates by May 24--the date the commission is scheduled to issue a final decision. Compliance with a 14-point competitive "checklist" of market-opening moves outlined in section 271 of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a prerequisite to Bell companies' receiving FCC authorization to provide in-region interLATA (local access and transport area) service.=20 The FCC is required to consult with relevant state commissions and the Justice Department before ruling on a Bell company's section 271 application. Bell companies typically try to convince the state regulators of their compliance before submitting an application to the FCC. The joint petitioners told the California commission that the record in the proceeding could be supplemented "in a relatively prompt and efficient manner." If "Pacific Bell intends to include updated or other additional information in its application to be filed with the FCC, then it should make thatinformation available to the [California commission] and the parties to this proceeding now," the petitioners said. Such action would be "consistent with the FCC's goal that the state commission be the principal forum for resolving factual disputes in the first instance, rather than require the [California commission] and the parties to address Pacific Bell's showing for the first time after being thrust into an expedited review process before the federal agency in Washington, D.C." In addition to the Office of Ratepayer Advocates, the joint petitioners were the California Association of Competitive Telecommunications Companies, the Association of Communications Enterprises, the Competitive Telecommunications Association, AT&T Communications of California, Inc., WorldCom, Inc., Advanced Telcom, Inc., XO California, Inc., Spring Communications Co. LP, New Edge Network, Inc., ICG Telecom Group, Inc., Rhythms Links, Inc., and Time Warner Telecom of California, Inc. ******************************************************* CONSUMER GROUPS CALL FOR `PRO-COMPETITIVE' FCC ACTION The Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union today issued a report stating that policy-makers have failed in their attempt to expand consumer choice in local and broadband services. In "Lessons from the 1996 Telecommunications Act," the groups called for increased regulation of large companies that "continue to monopolize the cable TV and local telephone industries." The report said the Act's failure stems from the fact that the major providers of cable TV and local phone service have chosen to merge rather than compete. "Most of the local phone service market still belongs to the regional Bell monopolies, which, thanks to a series of mergers, have shrunk from seven companies in 1996 into just four today," the groups said. The report asked lawmakers to promote "meaningful competition" among local service providers by pressing for adoption of certain market-opening principles nationwide. It specifically cites local market-opening moves in New York and Texas. In the broadband services market, a handful of dominant companies have refused to enter each other's markets, agreeing instead to merge and swap assets, the report says. "Cable monopolies have saddled consumers with huge rate increases and sought to impose their closed business model on the broadband Internet by making it nearly impossible for outside companies to offer Internet services over the monopolies' cable lines," the groups stated. They asked lawmakers to put an end to "abusive" cable TV pricing practices, require telcos to provide nondiscriminatory access to their high-speed networks, enforce media ownership limits that promote diversity, and block further consolidation that undermines potential competition. =20 ******************************************************* MOBILE PHONE INDUSTRY FACES LATEST HEALTH-RELATED LAWSUIT The wireless phone industry is facing another lawsuit, this one filed on behalf of a 38-year-old Georgia man who says his cellphone caused his brain tumor. It's the latest in a growing number of such lawsuits alleging that the industry manufactured and marketed the devices despite knowing their potential adverse health effects. The lawsuit, "Brian Lane Barrett and Diana Barrett v. Nokia Corp. et al." (case no.2001CV33385), was filed in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta Jan. 29. In addition to Nokia, the lawsuit names BellSouth Mobility, Inc., and the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (now the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association) as defendants. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages but doesn't list an amount. The 10-count lawsuit claims that the defendants "knew or should have known" the phones "to be defective, unreasonably dangerous, and hazardous." Spokespersons for the defendants declined to comment on the lawsuit.=20 ******************************************************* ILECs: `DISTORTIONS' FROM `RECIP COMP' COULD GET WORSE Incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) say their reciprocal compensation payments to competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) are continuing to increase, making it even more imperative that the FCC change its rules regarding the payments between carriers for terminating local traffic. The ILECs told the FCC that declining network costs and increasing traffic flows are producing "ever greater economic inefficiencies and distortions." Robert T. Blau, vice president-executive and federal regulatory affairs at BellSouth Corp., addressed the issue in a Feb. 1 letter to Common Carrier Bureau Chief Dorothy Attwood. He wrote on behalf of BellSouth, SBC Communications, Inc., Verizon Communications, Inc., and Qwest Communications International, Inc. Mr. Blau acknowledged that reciprocal compensation rates are declining, but he said dial-up traffic to the Internet is increasing faster. Most observers project that dial-up access minutes will continue to grow rapidly for at least the next three years, Mr. Blau said. In addition, changes in technology and capital cost reductions are "offsetting reciprocal compensation declines," he said. Mr. Blau estimated that the cost to CLECs of carrying dial-up calls to Internet service providers (ISPs) "works out to about $0.0001 per minute, or about 2% to 5% of current reciprocal compensation rates." He said eliminating reciprocal compensation in favor of a "bill-and-keep" system would not force CLECs to raise per-line fees for ISP customers. ******************************************************* NEWS IN BRIEF Former National Telecommunications and Information Administrator Gregory L. Rohde is heading up e-Copernicus.com, a new subsidiary of the government relations firm Dutko Group, Inc. E-Copernicus will offer consulting services to domestic and international Internet-based businesses and companies involved in electronic and mobile commerce.... Viatel, Inc., says Alfred West has resigned as chairman. He was founder, chairman, and chief executive officer at Destia Communications, which Viatel acquired in December 1999.... Yuval Bloch has been named president and general manager of Invisix, a joint venture of Motorola, Inc., and Cisco Systems, Inc. Mr. Bloch was vice president and GM in Israel for Motorola's Telecom Carrier Solutions Group.... Steven M. Reimer has been named senior vice president-customer operations at Mpower Communications Corp., a Rochester, N.Y.-based competitive local exchange carrier. He was VP-operations at AT&T Broadband.... Wireless broadband technology manufacturer Malibu Networks, Inc., has named John Skoro senior vice president-marketing and business development. He was marketing director-broadband wireless solutions at Nortel Networks Corp....=20 Shaya Phillips was named networking director at Global Broadband, Inc., a New York City-based integrated communications provider. He was director-enterprise networking services at St. John's University....=20 Douglas G. Bonner has become a partner in the Washington law office of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP. Elizabeth Dickerson and Brett Snyder were named associates. They've come to the firm's telecom practice group from Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn PLLC.... In the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Will Nordwind has been named counsel to the telecommunications subcommittee. He was deputy chief of staff, legislative director, and counsel to Rep. Fred Upton (R., Mich.), who has become chairman of the subcommittee. In other staffing news, Commerce Chairman W.J. (Billy) Tauzin (R., La.) announced today that Patrick Morrisey will be his deputy staff director and policy coordinator. Mr. Morrisey previously worked as a health counsel to the Commerce Committee. In the subcommittee on commerce, trade, and consumer protection, Rep. Tauzin has tapped Ramsen Betfarhad to be counsel. Mr. Betfarhad previously was counsel and economic adviser to former House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas J. Bliley Jr. (R., Va.).... Telecom Italia SpA intends to raise as much as 12.8 billion euros ($12 billion) by exchanging ordinary shares for a lesser class of stock called savings shares. Shareholders who participate in the exchange would pay Telecom Italia 6.25 euros per share ($5.87) to upgrade their stock.=20 Telecom Italia would use the proceeds to buy back up to 10% of its ordinary shares, including those held by parent company Olivetti SpA.=20 If the share exchange and buyback go as planned, Olivetti's stake in Telecom Italia would drop from 58.4% to about 40%. But the transaction would provide Olivetti with up to 5.1 billion euros ($4.8 billion) to use for debt reduction. The companies expect to complete the transactions, which are subject to shareholder approval, by August.... Qwest Communications International, Inc., is offering to buy back about $1.1 billion in senior notes. A cash tender offer for the notes will expir= e March 5. Qwest said it intended to retire the notes because they have high interest rates.... Community News LLC has agreed to make a voluntary $7,500 contribution to the U.S. Treasury for failing to obtain FCC authorization before transferring control of a land mobile radio station. The agreement was part of a consent decree with the FCC's Enforcement Bureau. The Massachusetts company used the station to communicate with newspaper delivery trucks and personnel. The bureau released the decision today in file number EB-00-IH-0433.... The FCC's new universal licensing system (ULS) for electronically processing applications and other paperwork still isn't working properly, according to the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials- International (APCO). APCO is asking public safety agencies that have made frequency-allocation requests to be patient in light of the delays in implementing the system. In most cases, applicants must obtain frequency coordination through a certified coordinator before their paperwork can be approved. Phase II of the conversion of the land mobile radio services to the ULS took effect last October, APCO pointed out. But no public- certified frequency coordinator successfully has submitted an application electronically to the FCC, it said. The new ULS forced frequency coordinators to redesign their software in just a few months, APCO said.... The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission says it will establish two numbering-relief planning committees to develop telephone number resource-allocation plans. CRTC plans to form a committee to assess numbering needs within area code 519; another committee will study area codes 613 and 819. The committees will submit to the CRTC relief-implementation proposals that, if approved, would require mandatory compliance by all telecom carriers serving those areas, the CRTC said today.... The FCC has renewed the charter of the Public Safety National Coordination Committee (NCC) for two more years, beginning Feb. 25.=20 The NCC advises the agency on technical and operational standards for the 700 megahertz band interoperability channels. ******************************************************** TR DAILY Copyright 2001 Telecommunications Reports International, Inc., (ISSN 1082-9350) is transmitted weekdays, except for holidays. Visit us on the World Wide Web at http://www.tr.com.=20 Published by the Business & Finance Group of CCH INCORPORATED. Associate Editor: Tom Leithauser Associate Editor: Steve Peacock Editor in Chief: Victoria A. Mason Publisher: Stephen P. Munro 1333 H Street, NW, 1st Floor-East Tower, Washington, DC 20005 Editorial information: Telephone: (202) 312-6100 Fax: (202) 842-3047 Email: speacock@tr.com Customer Service: Telephone: (202) 312-6050 (877) 874-8737 Fax: (202) 842-3023 Email: customerservice@tr.com Federal copyright law prohibits duplication or reproduction in any form, including electronic, without permission of the publisher. =0F:
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