Telephone Regulation III

I. ATT did not get what it expected from divestiture
a. Thought they could use old Consent Decree and Judge Green would be removed from case.
b. Original agreement said divestiture of “some or all” of operating companies

II. Telecommunications Act of 1996
a. Notes
i. Removed Judge Green from Consent Decree
ii. Technology best fostered in converging media
iii. Eliminate barriers to entry
iv. Remove FCC control from barriers to entry
v. Remove harmful competition
b. Interconnection
i. FCC originally lacked authority to govern intrastate communication - Overturned
ii. Long distance must connect with local service providers
c. Universal Service
i. CLECs must connect with LECs
ii. Allows CLEC to share local loop
iii. Offer each other services
iv. Voice and data on same line
v. Old approach to universal service no longer valid
vi. FCC defined new mechanisms to address rural access, cost
d. Access Charge Reform
i. Access charge – paid by long distance to complete call to LEC (“separations and settlements”)
ii. Restructured the way access charges are collected, and established Presubscribed Interexchange Carrier Charge (PICC), a charge that Interexchange Carriers will pay LECs

III. Mergers & Acquisitions
a. Bell Atlantic/NYNEX
i. FCC now judges mergers by this standard
ii. Must show merger will not get rid of or constrain competition
iii. 30 day notice to FCC and DOJ if wanting to merge or acquire another company
b. Proposed SBC/Ameritech merger threatened to harm consumers
i. Proposed solutions can change the public interest in favor of the merger
c. If a merger can affect Europe, EU also gets involved

IV. Cases
a. Iowa Utility Board v FCC
i. Struck down FCC pricing model
b. Verizon v FCC – 2002
i. Allowed to set rates on forward-looking basis

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License