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TR's State NewsWire . . .daily intelligence on communications industry news and policy from the editors of Telecommunications Reports. . . ====================================================== *Table of Contents* December 27, 2001 STATES VIRGINIA -- Verizon asks court to dismiss antitrust lawsuit MICHIGAN -- Ameritech fails to comply with four checklist items CALIFORNIA -- Audit reveals '909' doesn't need 'split,' 'overlay' TEXAS -- MCImetro agrees to bill customers for 'incollect' calls TEXAS -- AT&T stops paying Allegiance's access charges TEXAS -- SW Bell defends 'daily usage feed' charge TEXAS -- Staff wants to reverse NeuStar decision PENNSYLVANIA -- Net2000 to return 10,000 numbers PENNSYLVANIA -- Deadline for views on service-quality guidelines extended WEST VIRGINIA -- Gov't sites to be accessible to blind, deaf WASHINGTON -- Gov. Locke reports on regulatory improvements CALIFORNIA -- Gov. Davis names Orange County judges REGIONAL Verizon invests nearly $1.1B in networks in 2001 New service consolidates messages **TR's Survey of 'No-Call' List Legislation** ______________________________________________________ VIRGINIA -- Verizon asks court to dismiss antitrust lawsuit Verizon Communications has asked a federal court to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit filed against it last month by Cavalier Telephone LLC. In the complaint filed at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Cavalier alleges that Verizon violated antitrust and other laws by blocking competition and maintaining monopoly power in the local exchange service market. The competitive local exchange carrier is seeking treble damages and punitive damages of $635 million. In documents filed yesterday, Verizon argued that Cavalier's lawsuit fails to state a legitimate antitrust claim under the federal Sherman Act. Verizon also claims that the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 provides adequate remedies for Cavalier short of an antitrust action. "It's surprising that Cavalier claims it's unable to compete when it serves over 100,000 access lines and also claims to be adding 10,000 lines a month," said Robert Woltz, president-Verizon Virginia. "This success belies Cavalier's claims against Verizon." ______________________________________________________ MICHIGAN -- Ameritech fails to comply with four checklist items The Public Service Commission has said it doesn't "appear" that Ameritech-Michigan has complied with four items on the 14-point "competitive checklist" in section 271 of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. The commission said it issued the preliminary order to "provide Ameritech Michigan with forewarning" that "redirection is needed" to gain the commission's endorsement of the telco's bid to enter the interLATA (local access and transport area) services market under section 271 of the Act. The PSC's order discusses checklist items two (access to network elements), four (local loop transport), seven (access to "911," and directory assistance), and 10 (access to databases and signaling). In examining checklist item two, the commission discussed WorldCom, Inc.'s complaint that Ameritech hasn't been sending line-loss reports on CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier)- to-CLEC migrations. WorldCom said, absent notification that its customer has chosen to receive service from a different provider, it continues to bill for its services. At the same time, the new CLEC initiates billing, and the customers are double billed, WorldCom explained. WorldCom asserted that Ameritech has taken a "cavalier" attitude about this problem. The commission said the problem has a "grave potential effect on competition for local exchange service and is one of the most serious of the problems raised in this case." It directed Ameritech to file a report on its efforts to resolve the problem within 20 days of its Dec. 20 order. The PSC said in order for Ameritech to comply with checklist item four, it must facilitate the migration of voice service from itself to a CLEC with "line splitting" over the UNE-P (unbundled network element-platform). The commission said a CLEC doesn't need to gain approval from the data CLEC before providing voice service to a customer and migrate the service from "line sharing" to line splitting. The commission rejected Ameritech's assertion that the FCC's orders support its position that the data CLEC has a right of first refusal for the voice portion of the loop when a customer seeks to change his voice provider from the incumbent. The PSC also ordered Ameritech to streamline the process for ordering and provisioning the UNE-P when line splitting is involved. The commission further examined Ameritech's compliance with checklist item seven and determined that the company must provide directory assistance listings (DAL) at cost-based rates. Ameritech has said the FCC recognized DAL as a competitive wholesale service and declined to expand the definition of directory assistance to include DAL or to require that DAL be provided at forward-looking prices. The PSC said the FCC's conclusion only relates to incumbents that provide customized routing. Ameritech doesn't provide reasonable customized routing, the PSC added. During its examination of checklist item 10, the PSC determined that the access to calling name (CNAM) database should be considered a UNE. Ameritech said it wasn't a UNE because the PSC didn't do an analysis concerning whether the database met the "necessary and impair" standards of sections 251 and 252 of the Act. The PSC answered that it didn't need to go through the "necessary and impair" analysis because the FCC already did. The PSC also rejected Ameritech's assertion that the unbundled element is only "access to" the database and not the database itself. (Case U-12320) ______________________________________________________ CALIFORNIA -- Audit reveals '909' doesn't need 'split,' 'overlay' The Public Utilities Commission has conducted an audit of telephone number utilization in the "909" area code and determined that as long as the FCC requires wireless carriers to "pool" numbers, there likely won't be an "immediate need" for a "split" or "overlay." The audit found that the "crucial factor" in determined when the area code will "exhaust" is when wireless carriers will begin 1,000-number-block "pooling." In February 1999, the FCC extended the deadline until Nov. 24, 2002, for cellular carriers to support the technology that allows pooling. If cellular carriers don't start participating in the pool in November 2002, it appears likely that the demand from wireless carriers for phone numbers will exhaust the supply of prefixes in the 909 area code within 12-18 months, the PUC said. The audit also illustrated the need for carriers to keep better track of the use and availability of phone numbers, the PUC said. For example, carriers erroneously reported 206,000 telephone numbers as unavailable, the commission noted. ______________________________________________________ TEXAS -- MCImetro agrees to bill customers for 'incollect' calls MCImetro Access Transmission Services LLC has agreed to bill its customers for "incollect" calls beginning Jan. 14, 2002, in an interim agreement between it and Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. Incollect, or alternatively billed, calls include collect calls and other calls that are billed to a different phone number than the originating caller's number. The interim agreement will remain in effect, "pending the outcome" of the commission's decision in Docket 24542, an MCImetro arbitration petition. SW Bell had asked the Public Utility Commission to require MCImetro to bill its customers for incollect calls and remit collected amounts to the incumbent. (12/14/01) SW Bell said it shouldn't be required to provide incollect service to MCImetro's customers at no charge. SW Bell said it had seen a "dramatic rise" in recent months in the volume of MCImetro customers' incollect calls. The problem is "particularly acute" for incollect calls made from prison pay phones, and it forces SW Bell to forgo up to $2 million in revenue a month, the incumbent said. MCImetro also agreed to (1) back bill its customers for incollect services provided since August, (2) block customers from making incollect calls if they fail to pay for incollect services 60 days after they are billed, and (3) track uncollected incollect charges. MCImetro said it would bill customers for incollect charges on a bill separate from its bill for local services through a third-party billing agent. (Docket 25160) ______________________________________________________ TEXAS -- AT&T stops paying Allegiance's access charges Allegiance Telecom of Texas, Inc., has asked the Public Utility Commission to require AT&T Corp. to pay for Allegiance's intrastate switched access services. Since 1998, AT&T has "intermittently paid" for some of Allegiance's terminating access services but has refused to pay for any of the company's originating access services, Allegiance said. AT&T is paying incumbents' intrastate access charges while it refuses to pay Allegiance's "lawfully tariffed rates," Allegiance said. AT&T is also paying its affiliates' intrastate access charges even when they "equal or exceed" Allegiance's rates, the company said. AT&T's "discrimination against unaffiliated competitive local exchange carriers confers a significant advantage" on AT&T's local service provider affiliates, Allegiance added. In November, AT&T paid XO Texas, Inc., more than $500,000 in intrastate access charges after XO filed a complaint with the commission. (11/13/01) AT&T asked the PUC to dismiss XO's complaint "without prejudice to AT&T's right to pursue a claim for XO's unreasonable switched access service charges." AT&T said it reserved its right to challenge XO's tariffed rates with any "appropriate court." (Docket 25212) ______________________________________________________ TEXAS -- SW Bell defends 'daily usage feed' charge Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. has asked the Public Utility Commission to deny MCImetro Access Transmission Services LLC's request to eliminate the incumbent's DUF (daily usage feed) charge. SW Bell charges MCImetro and other competitive local exchange carriers 0.3 cents for every call attempt made by their UNE-P (unbundled network element-platform) customers. The charge, which is designed to provide competitors with a record of local calls, should be eliminated because cost studies support a zero rate, MCImetro said. (8/23/01) The DUF charge "unexpectedly" increased MCImetro's cost of providing UNE-P service to local residential customers by nearly 75 cents per month per customer, MCImetro said. "The DUF record is integral to every UNE-P local service provider to have the ability to bill," SW Bell said. SW Bell "bears costs associated with providing this service and should be allowed to recover such costs," the telco said. SW Bell added that it planned to complete a study analyzing its DUF cost elements and would charge competitors a new rate after completing the cost study. (Docket 24542) ______________________________________________________ TEXAS -- Staff wants to reverse NeuStar decision The Public Utility Commission staff has recommended reversing North American Numbering Plan administrator NeuStar, Inc.'s decision denying Personal Touch Communications L.P.'s request for a second "NXX" code in the Greenville rate center. The staff concluded that NeuStar's denial was an "entry barrier" because it prevented Personal Touch from providing EAS (extended area service), an optional, two-way toll-free expanded local calling plan. NeuStar denied Personal Touch's request because it had failed to meet the rate center months-to-exhaust criteria required before obtaining additional numbering resources. To qualify for additional numbering resources, carriers must have no more than a six-month inventory of phone numbers in a rate center. The commission will review the staff's recommendation Jan. 10, 2002. (Docket 24938) ______________________________________________________ PENNSYLVANIA -- Net2000 to return 10,000 numbers The Public Utility Commission has ordered Net2000 Communications, Inc., to return about 10,000 unused and inactive telephone numbers in the "238" "NXX" of the "484" area code. The PUC is acting under the authority of the FCC, which allows state commissions to reclaim NXX codes that haven't been assigned to customers within a six-month period. The PUC said its action would help slow area code depletion in the state. ______________________________________________________ PENNSYLVANIA -- Deadline for views on service-quality guidelines extended The Public Utility Commission has extended the comment date on proposed interim quality-of-service guidelines from Dec. 26 to Jan. 11, 2002. The proposed guidelines, which apply to all local service providers, revisit the PUC's 1984 "standards and billing practices for residential telephone service" rules. The interim guidelines would (1) set rules for changing local service providers, (2) require carriers to make their bills easy to understand, (3) allow for number porting between carriers, and (4) set customer notification guidelines for service providers discontinuing service. The PUC said it would institute final interim guidelines after the Jan. 11, 2002, comments are filed. The interim guidelines will be in place until the PUC passes service-quality regulations. (M-00011583, M-00011584, M-00011585, M-00011586) ______________________________________________________ WEST VIRGINIA -- Gov't sites to be accessible to blind, deaf All executive branch Web sites must be accessible to visual and hearing impaired citizens by Jan. 1, 2002, Gov. Bob Wise (D.) has said. During the opening of the new technology facility for the American Foundation for the Blind, Gov. Wise said the executive branch Web sites would include text messaging for all pictures, text menus for easier navigation, and alternative methods for retrieving information with the deaf and blind citizen in mind. The move will bring the Web sites into compliance with federal standards. ______________________________________________________ WASHINGTON -- Gov. Locke reports on regulatory improvements Gov. Gary Locke (D.) has issued his fifth and final report detailing state agencies' accomplishments in eliminating unnecessary state regulations. State agencies have reviewed 28,776 rules since 1997 and have repealed more than 8,000. The agencies also rewrote more than 9,000 rules to make them more understandable and eliminated more than 2,400 pages of the Washington Administrative Code (WAC). These changes complied with Executive Order 97-02, which required state agencies to review all regulations for "need, reasonableness, effectiveness, clarity, fairness, public involvement, coordination among regulatory agencies, and consistency with legislative intent and statutory authority." The Utilities and Transportation Commission has reviewed 83% of its regulations, which amounts to 706 sections. It repealed 340 sections, amended 45 sections, and eliminated 14 pages of the WAC. ______________________________________________________ CALIFORNIA -- Gov. Davis names Orange County judges Gov. Gray Davis (D.) has nominated Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard D. Fybel to be an associate justice of the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division Three (Orange County). Gov. Davis further appointed Senior Assistant District Attorney Claudia Silbar, Assistant District Attorney Carolyn Kirkwood, and private attorney Peter J. Polos as judges of the Orange County Superior Court. Judge Fybel has been serving in the North Justice Center in Fullerton since his appointment last year to the Orange County Superior Court by Gov. Davis. His nomination is subject to confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which consists of the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, the attorney general, and the senior presiding justice of the fourth appellate district, Justice Daniel J. Kremer. ______________________________________________________ NEW JERSEY, RHODE ISLAND -- Verizon invests nearly $1.1B in networks in 2001 Verizon Communications, Inc., said it has invested nearly $1.1 billion in its New Jersey and Rhode Island markets this year. Verizon is also in the process of applying for authority to offer in-region, interLATA (local access and transport area) service in both states under section 271 of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. Verizon New Jersey, Inc., said it spent $1 billion this year to upgrade its network, primarily by expanding fiber-optic facilities. Verizon filed its section 271 application at the FCC on Dec. 20. The FCC will rule on the application by March 20, 2002. Verizon Rhode Island, Inc., said the $71 million it spent in network expansions this year was also primarily dedicated to increasing fiber-optic facilities and upgrading its call centers. This year's investment, the company said, added about 14,000 miles of fiber-optic cable in Rhode Island. Verizon filed for FCC approval of its section 271 application Nov. 26. The FCC must rule on the application by Feb. 24, 2002. ______________________________________________________ DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, MARYLAND, VIRGINIA -- New service consolidates messages Verizon Communications, Inc., has introduced a new service to unify multiple voicemail and e-mail messages for subscribers in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area. The company said its "unified communications" service helps customers manage the daily "deluge of messages" they receive in various mediums. The service, developed by uReach Technologies, Inc., puts all voice, e-mail, and fax messages into one message box that can be accessed by wireline or wireless phone, Web browser, or wireless Web-enabled device, the company said. Subscribers are assigned a "personal universal phone number" that can be used to reach the subscriber or to leave messages. Subscribers can also use the number to listen to messages, send faxes, or manage a "virtual filing cabinet." The service is offered in Washington, D.C., suburban Maryland, and northern Virginia. Customers may choose between a local or toll-free number package. ______________________________________________________ **TR's Survey of 'No-Call' List Legislation** During the 2001 legislative season, 22 states introduced bills to allow their citizens to register their telephone numbers on a "no-call" list. Telemarketers aren't allowed to make telephone solicitations to telephone numbers on theses lists. Although 37 bills were introduced in those 22 states, only seven Legislatures approved the bills. Of that seven, only six survived--HB 176 in Illinois was vetoed by Gov. George H. Ryan (R.). Click here for TR's Survey of 'No-Call' List Legislation http://www.tr.com/insight27.asp ======================== END ========================= To view this issue online, go to http://www.tr.com/statenews/. Federal law prohibits duplication in any form, including electronic, without permission of the publisher. TR's State NewsWire Copyright 2000, 2001 Telecommunications Reports International, Inc. (ISSN 1082-9350) is transmitted each business day, except holidays. Telecommunications Reports International, Inc. 1333 H St. NW, Suite 100-E Washington, DC 20005-4707 Gayle Kansagor, E-mail: mailto:gkansagor@tr.com Editor Susan McGovern, E-mail: mailto:smcgovern@tr.com Associate Editor Victoria Curtis, E-mail: mailto:vcurtis@tr.com Senior Research Analyst Michael Johnson, E-mail: mailto:mjohnson@tr.com Senior Telecommunications Analyst Account Services: Christy Iredell (202) 312-6051, (202) 312-6065 (fax), E-mail: mailto:ciredell@tr.com
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