Subject: Anne Bingaman on NY PSC Report on Bell Atlantic Long Distance Entry
James Love (love@cptech.org)
Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 14:35:21 -0500
Message-Id: <3523E879.383A94E7@cptech.org> Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 14:35:21 -0500 From: James Love <love@cptech.org> To: Roundtable <roundtable@cni.org> Subject: Anne Bingaman on NY PSC Report on Bell Atlantic Long Distance Entry
The following is a press release by LCI, a long distance company,
regarding Anne Bingaman's recent Senate testimony regarding the NY PSC
Staff Report on Bell Atlantic Long Distance Entry
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http://www.lci.com/mediaRelations/1998/03/25-5271525298.html
Bingaman Says Consumers Will Lose if RBOCs Are
Allowed Premature Entry into Long-Distance
--Recent Actions by New York PSC Cited as Example--
MCLEAN, Va., March 25, 1998 - Anne K. Bingaman, president of LCI
International's local telecommunications division, told members of the
Senate Subcommittee on Communications that if, under current conditions,
the Regional Bell Operating Companies are allowed entry into the
long-distance market then "it will be many years - a decade or more -
before most residential and small business consumers will see any
meaningful competition at the local level."
Bingaman also alerted the senators to recent activities by the New York
Public Service Commission (PSC) as evidence that the Regional Bell
Operating Companies (RBOCs) are close to being able to offer
long-distance without loosening their grip on local phone markets.
"On the afternoon of March 17 the New York Public Service Commission
staff released a draft of what they would
recommend the Chairman accept as Bell Atlantic's commitment, at which
point the Chairman would agree to approve long distance entry," said
Bingaman. "The 34 page document includes significant new concepts that
had never been publicly discussed before, yet competitors who would be
seriously harmed by the proposal were given only six days in which to
submit comments that were limited to 10 pages."
At issue is a recommendation by the New York PSC that new entrants to
the local phone market in that state would be given between
three-to-five years to share access to Bell Atlantic's ubiquitous
network - or UNE platform. The proposal would completely eliminate
access to the UNE platform for business customers in New York City.
According to Bingaman, "Not only does this staff proposal violate good
public policy, it clearly violates the statutory requirements Congress
included in the Telecommunications Act."
Bingaman told the senators that Competitive Local Exchange Carriers
(CLECs) have been building local networks in New York City for almost 10
years and still reach fewer than 20 of the 75 central offices located in
New York City. Half of those offices are located below West 59th Street
and target large business customers on Wall Street and in Midtown.
Bingaman stressed that the "only cost effective way for competition to
reach small business and residential customers is through the monopoly
local network that those same customers have bought and paid for over
the past 60 years. That is why the New York decision is so crucial to
competition - both in New York and elsewhere due to the precedent it
will set."
In her testimony, Bingaman also expressed her concerns about the
involvement of the Department of Justice in the 271 application being
prepared by the New York PSC. "The New York Public Service Commission
draft proposal, if it is in fact pre-approved by the Department of
Justice, may very well serve as the model - the high water mark - which
may be rolled out to all states."
Bingaman told the Senate Subcommittee that "Our concern is that Justice
may be stepping outside the quasi-judicial role assigned by Congress -
for which Congress gave Justice's views 'substantial weight' - into the
role of an active participant negotiating an outcome before the fact.
Any behind the scenes role influencing a state body that has not yet
made a public decision is not, I believe, what Congress believed
Justice's role would be when it enacted the Telecommunications Act of
1996."
LCI International, Inc. (NYSE:LCI), one of the nation's fastest-growing
telecommunications carriers, provides a full array of worldwide voice
and data transmission services to businesses, residential customers and
other carriers through its fiber-optic network. The company also
currently provides local telephone service to commercial customers in
more than 40 U.S. markets. LCI International, Inc. is headquartered in
McLean, Va., with offices in more than 60 locations, including national
network control and customer service centers, and regional operations in
various locations throughout the United States.
To obtain copies of other recent LCI announcements, please contact our
fax service at 1-800-758-5804 (id# 520213) or visit LCI International's
Web site (http://www.lci.com), which also provides additional corporate
information.
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