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Telecommunications Reports presents.... TR DAILY June 6, 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 customerservice@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/td060601/index.htm VERIZON PLANS PENNSYLVANIA InterLATA BID THIS MONTH AFTER PUC GIVES CONDITIONAL SUPPORT http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2001/td060601/Td060601.htm NEW COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY SEEKS MEETINGS WITH LAWMAKERS http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2001/td060601/Td060601-01.htm TWO ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS CHALLENGE FCC's ANTENNA LICENSING PROCEDURES http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2001/td060601/Td060601-02.htm TIA PARTNERS WITH USAID TO BOOST OVERSEAS TELECOM SALES http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2001/td060601/Td060601-03.htm FCC OPENS AUCTION OF VHF, LMS LICENSES http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2001/td060601/Td060601-04.htm NEWS IN BRIEF http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2001/td060601/Td060601-05.htm *************************************************************** VERIZON PLANS PENNSYLVANIA InterLATA BID THIS MONTH AFTER PUC GIVES CONDITIONAL SUPPORT Verizon Pennsylvania, Inc., plans to accept conditions that the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission imposed today on its support for the company's planned application to provide interLATA (local access and transport area) services in the state. The company expects to file its application later this month with the FCC, which, under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, will consult with the U.S. Department of Justice and the relevant state regulators before issuing a decision. The state regulators' role is to advise the FCC on whether a Bell company has complied with the local exchange market-opening mandates of the Act. In a 3-2 vote, the PUC told Verizon that it must agree to a permanent performance assurance plan with "self-executing" remedies based on the New York model already accepted by the FCC. The company also must withdraw its pending judicial challenge of the PUC's authority to impose remedies aimed at preventing backsliding on local exchange market-opening commitments. The PUC said the company must agree to increase certain penalties from $5,000 to $25,000. And the commission said Verizon must agree to increase remedies for failing to provide accurate electronic billing to competitors; the company could face payments as high as $100,000 per affected competitive local exchange carrier for missing an electronic billing standard. Commissioners Nora Mead Brownell and Terrance J. Fitzpatrick dissented. Commissioner Brownell said, "I cannot, in good conscience, affirm that these markets are open as envisioned under the Act." Both dissenting commissioners listed several areas in which Verizon had failed to show that local markets are open to competition. But Colleen McCloskey, senior vice president-state government relations and external affairs at Verizon, said she believed those concerns were addressed by the conditions the PUC laid out. Ms. McCloskey noted that New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania comprise the lion's share of Verizon Communications, Inc.'s access lines. Verizon already is providing interLATA service in New York and Massachusetts. Winning approval in Pennsylvania would mean the company is making substantial progress toward meeting an FCC requirement for Verizon's regaining control of Internet backbone service provider Genuity, Inc. Verizon spun that unit off last year as a condition of the FCC's approval of a merger of Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp., which formed Verizon. A WorldCom, Inc., spokesman told TR, "We agree with the [PUC] dissenters. We hope the FCC will recognize that problems still exist and force Verizon to fix them prior to allowing it to offer long distance." *************************************************************** NEW COMMISSIONER ABERNATHY SEEKS MEETINGS WITH LAWMAKERS FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy, still in her first week on the job, already is sending letters to members of Congress seeking meetings to discuss the Commission's work. In an interview today with TR, she said she viewed her new role as an interpreter of Congress's statutory mandate. The public never has a chance to vote for FCC Commissioners, unlike members of Congress, she noted. Many of the predictions and assumptions made about the pace of technological and market change when the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed were wrong, Ms. Abernathy said. But that doesn't mean the Act has been a failure, she added. She cited increasing choices for consumers as one of the positive gains made since 1996. The commissioner, who was director-government affairs at Broadband Office, Inc., emphasized the importance of information provided by Congress, industry officials, consumer groups, and state regulators. Despite her experience in various industry segments, she's "not an engineer or an economist," she said. She appreciates organized presentations and creative ideas, she added. See Monday's TR for a full transcript of the interview. *************************************************************** TWO ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS CHALLENGE FCC's ANTENNA LICENSING PROCEDURES Two environmental groups have launched an attack on the FCC's antenna licensing process, saying the agency should assess the "direct, indirect, and cumulative effects" before issuing new licenses. Friends of the Earth and the Forest Conservation Council issued their appeal in petitions asking the FCC to deny 33 antenna license applications. The groups say the environmental assessments prepared for those projects fail to include the information and analysis mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Council of Envi- ronmental Quality regulations, and FCC rules. In addition, applicants failed to meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the groups allege. The companies seeking permission to build the new antennas dismiss the charges. They say their applications fully comply with applicable regulations. The environmental groups fail to provide any specific justification or evidence against their projects and lack standing in the proceeding, the companies say. The groups' challenge should be raised in a formal rulemaking proceeding, they add. "Of course the Commission must consider and evaluate good-faith challenges to environmental compliance," American Tower L.P. said in defense of its plans for a Maryland antenna tower. "Complaints as vague, insubstantial, and deficient as those in the present petition, however, are unfair, waste already strained compliance resources of both Commission and applicants, and can cause serious harm to a given tower project or even to [the] overall industry, through unnecessary construction delay and regulatory uncertainty." A spokeswoman for the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau said today that agency officials were reviewing the environmental groups' petitions. *************************************************************** TIA PARTNERS WITH USAID TO BOOST OVERSEAS TELECOM SALES The Telecommunications Industry Association has signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to help U.S. telecom equipment vendors increase sales in developing countries. USAID will provide access to its "global technology network" (GTN), which assists U.S. small and midsize companies by matching prospective buyers and sellers. TIA said the agreement should increase the volume of new business leads and deals in emerging markets. "TIA and GTN share the common goals of promoting economic development through business enterprise," said TIA President Matthew Flanigan. *************************************************************** FCC OPENS AUCTION OF VHF, LMS LICENSES An FCC auction of 16 VHF (very high frequency) public coast licenses and 241 location and monitoring service (LMS) licenses opened today. Net bids totaled $284,805 by the time bidding was done for the day after the fourth round. There are seven eligible bidders in the sale. Telesaurus Holdings GB LLC was the top bidder for in the LMS auction, offering $158,535 for 106 licenses. SMR Systems, Inc., led in the public coast auction, bidding $17,550 for six licenses. The licenses were unsold at two auctions in 1998 and 1999 (TR, Dec. 21, 1998, and March 8, 1999). *************************************************************** NEWS IN BRIEF Robert D. Strain has been named executive vice president and general manager of the space systems group at Orbital Sciences Corp. He has been the head of Orbital's electronics and sensor systems group (ESSG) since 1996. James R. Thompson will serve as acting head of ESSG until a successor can be found. Mr. Thompson is Orbital's president and chief operating officer.... Tony Werner has been appointed executive vice president-strategic technology at Qwest Communications International, Inc. He was president and chief executive officer at Aurora Networks, Inc. He also was chief technology officer at AT&T Broadband until November 2000.... The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association has elected a new executive committee for 2001-2002. Richard Ekstrand, president and chief executive officer of Rural Cellular Corp., is chairman; Timothy Donahue, president and CEO of Nextel Communications, Inc., is vice chairman; Mohan Gyani, president and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services, Inc., is secretary; and Terry Addington, president and CEO of First Cellular of Southern Illinois, Inc., is treasurer.... Mark Floyd has been elected to the board of Carrier Access Corp. He is president-access solutions for Siemens AG's Information and Communication Networks Group.... Roderick Nelson has been elected to the board of Tropian, Inc., a Cupertino, Calif.-based wireless semiconductor chip maker. Mr. Nelson is chief technology officer at AT&T Wireless.... Nassau County (N.Y.) Executive Thomas S. Gulotta has signed a measure prohibiting the use of handheld mobile phones while driving. The legislation passed the county's legislature 19-0 last month (TR, May 14). It carries fines of up to $100 per violation. Mr. Gulotta said he agreed to sign the measure after its sponsor, Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D.), offered to amend it to allow mobile phone users to manually activate and deactivate their phones while driving. The law takes effect July 1.... The Industrial Telecommunications Association has asked two members of Congress to amend legislation that would require states to restrict the use of mobile phones in vehicles or risk losing federal highway funding (TR, May 28). ITA sent letters June 5 to Rep. Gary Ackerman (D., N.Y.) and Sen. Jon Corzine (D., N.J.) asking them to amend their bills (HR 1837 and S 927) to exclude the use of two-way radios for business communications. Such regulations would hurt businesses nationwide, ITA said.... The FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau said it has awarded eight licenses in the "guard bands" surrounding public safety spectrum in the 700 megahertz frequencies. The licenses netted $20.9 million in a February auction (TR, Feb. 26). Nextel Spectrum Acquisition Corp. and Pegasus Guard Band LLC each won three licenses, while Access Spectrum LLC was the top bidder for the remaining two licenses.... The American Public Communications Council has asked the FCC to reconsider a recent decision that terminated a proceeding on calling-party-pays (CPP) billing (TR, April 23). In a petition filed June 4 in Wireless Telecommunications docket 97-207, APCC asked the Commission to adopt rules prohibiting CPP charges from being billed to pay phone service providers. Without such provisions, pay phone providers "remain at risk of being improperly billed," APPC said.... The FCC's Common Carrier Bureau has granted, for one year, the National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc.'s request for a waiver of its annual election requirement for its board. The election was scheduled for October 2001. The FCC is considering changing the term limits and eliminating the election requirement for NECA's board under the FCC's biennial review.... Shareholders of Chorus Communications Group Ltd. have approved the company's takeover by Telephone & Data Systems, Inc. TDS, a Chicago-based provider of wireline and wireless telecom services in rural areas, has agreed to pay $195 million in cash and assume $31 million in debt to acquire Chorus, of Madison, Wis. (TR, Dec. 4, 2000). The acquisition still requires FCC approval. The companies expect to complete the transaction in the third quarter.... Cavalier Telephone, Inc., said it would acquire Newark, Del.- based competitive local exchange carrier Conectiv Communications. After the purchase, Cavalier said it would have 130,000 installed telephone lines and 1,200 miles of fiber optic cable collocated in Verizon Communications, Inc.'s central offices. Cavalier, of Richmond, Va., said its network would stretch from southern New Jersey to Norfolk, Va. The price was not disclosed.... AT&T Corp. has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. alleging the software company infringed on an AT&T patent. The patent in question is one that AT&T acquired in 1984 for speech-coding technology. In the lawsuit filed at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, AT&T said it notified Microsoft in 1999 that its software programs were using AT&T's patented technology. AT&T said it was willing to grant a license, but Microsoft refused. Microsoft had no comment on the lawsuit.... As expected, the House telecommunications and the Internet subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for next week to review enhanced "911" (E911) issues. The hearing, titled "Ensuring Compatibility with Enhanced 911 Emergency Calling Systems: A Progress Report," will be held June 14 at 10:00 a.m. in room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building.... The FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology will host two tutorials next week. On June 11 from 10:30 a.m. until noon, Jeffrey A. Bilmes, associate professor-signal and image processing at the University of Washington, will present a tutorial on the use of graphical models for speech recognition. On June 15 from 10 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., M. Niel Ransom, chief technology officer at Alcatel USA, will present a tutorial on voice over IP (Internet protocol) network technology. Both sessions will be in the FCC meeting room at the Commission's Washington headquarters.... The Quality Excellence for Suppliers of Telecommunications (QuEST) Forum will meet July 10-11 in Berlin, Germany. QuEST is a forum for a telecom industry initiative, TL9000, launched to develop a standardized set of quality requirements. Speakers will include Meister-Scheufelen, Senat member of Berlin; George C. Via, senior vice president-operations for Verizon Communications, Inc.; Olga Striltschuk, corporate VP and director-performance excellence at Motorola, Inc.; Steve Welch, president-SBC procurement for SBC Operations, Inc.; and Timo Hunnukainen, VP-quality at Nokia Mobile Phones. For more information, visit www.questforum.org, or call Jeff Weitzer at 414/765-8672.... The technology industry last year experienced its slowest growth rate since 1994-1995, according to a report released today by AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association). The "Cyberstates 2001" report "confirms that the current high-tech slowdown began in 2000," AeA President William T. Archey said. "And many current indicators point to a continued slowing of growth for 2001. Yet despite the present economic uncertainty, some states have flourished," he said. The 160-page report found that all states, except for West Virginia, experienced growth in high-tech employment between 1999 and 2000. For more information, go to AeA's Web site, http://www.aeanet.org, or call 800/284-4232. ******************************************************** 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. Published by the Business & Finance Group of CCH INCORPORATED. Associate Editor: Tom Leithauser Associate Editor: Ryan Oremland Associate Editor: Ed Rovetto 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) 312-6060 Fax: (202) 312-6111 Email: tleithauser@tr.com Customer Service: Telephone: (202) 312-6050 (877) 874-8737 Fax: (202) 312-6116 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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