[IP] Court overrules FCC on phone competition
Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 02 Mar 2004 21:24:21 -0500
From: "Peter D. Junger" <junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Court overrules FCC on phone competition
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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<http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-FCC-Phone-Competition.html?hp>
Court Tosses Rules for Phone Competition (p1
of 3)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An appeals court on Tuesday rejected federal rules
giving states more authority to determine which companies may offer
local phone service within their borders.
The three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously
sided with former Bell companies Verizon, BellSouth, SBC and Qwest.
They claimed the rules adopted by the Federal Communications
Commission forced them to give competitors access to their networks at
artificially low prices.
It's the third time the commission's attempts to write rules for local
telephone service competition have been rejected by the courts. The
latest ruling decried the FCC's ``apparent unwillingness to adhere to
prior judicial rulings.''
At issue is how to spur competition for local telephone service, which
Congress mandated in 1996.
[snip]
The rules were the result of a contentious 3-2 FCC vote in February
2003. Chairman Michael Powell was on the losing end of the vote, the
first time he had been on the losing side since taking over the
five-member panel in 2001.
Powell applauded the court decision and said he already has ordered
the FCC staff to begin work on new rules.
The court did uphold other rules requiring the former Bell companies
to allow providers of high-speed DSL Internet service to use their
copper wires, but not upgraded fiber optic or fiber-copper lines. The
FCC said requiring the companies to provide access to the upgraded
lines would act as a disincentive for the former Bells to develop
better systems.
--
Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH
EMAIL: junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx URL: http://samsara.law.cwru.edu
NOTE: junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx no longer exists
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