AT&T reports Bell Atlantic to N.Y. state regulators

Carrier cites poor turnaround time for handing over new business.

By David Rohde
Network World Fusion, 11/06/98

AT&T Thursday issued a broadside against Bell Atlantic, saying the regional Bell operating company is fouling up its local service orders in New York City.

AT&T spoke up even though its public complaint could have the effect of making users hesitant to switch from Bell Atlantic to AT&T.

The long-distance giant, in a filing with New York state regulators, claims that over the past three months Bell Atlantic has failed 95% of the time to meet a promised deadline to hand over customers within five days of AT&T winning their business.

AT&T claims a plethora of other problems. For instance, 15% of the local customers that were taken over by AT&T have been dropped from Bell Atlantic's directory assistance.

AT&T's charges were based on its experience since acquiring Teleport Communications Group, a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) with networks in dozens of cities and roots in New York City. "Bell Atlantic has demonstrated that it cannot yet handle the task at hand," says Michael Morrissey, AT&T's vice president of law and government affairs.

The timing of AT&T's charges is key. Bell Atlantic next month is expected to file an application with the Federal Communications Commission requesting entry into the long-distance business for New York customers. The FCC must find that Bell Atlantic has sufficiently opened its local market in the state before granting it long-distance authority.

Citing the impending long-distance application, a Bell Atlantic spokesman dismisses AT&T complaints out of hand. "This is another in a long line of delaying tactics," he says. "AT&T does not want Bell Atlantic in the long-distance business, and they're just gaming the regulatory process." Bell Atlantic's records show that it met the five-day standard for order turnover 85% of the time in September, and it currently processes up to 2,000 change orders a day from more than 50 CLECs in New York, he adds.

In fact, the tone of AT&T's comments reflects the political background. In its filing, AT&T repeatedly pictures itself as stifled in selling local service. Yet Teleport was a highly successful CLEC on its own before being acquired by AT&T.

When Teleport was independent, it had different priorities, Morrissey says. "As a small business, they try not to highlight their problems. They try to work through them." However, AT&T is worried about what will happen when it advertises its local service in the mass media, an action that Morrissey says would bring the carrier thousands of orders a month.

At that point, AT&T would not be able to individually solve customer's problems if orders were delayed. In a complaint that end users can relate to, Morrissey gripes that when AT&T has a problem with Bell Atlantic, "they refer us to a help desk, and we get a recording." Morrissey did not claim that Bell Atlantic has actually lost any orders, though he says users are at risk of being cut off from Bell Atlantic several days before being turned up by AT&T.

Morrissey concedes that getting into a public fight with Bell Atlantic could make users wonder whether they should risk buying service from a new carrier rather than sticking with the RBOC. "It's a real danger," Morrissey says. "There's a dynamic tension." But he says it is more important for AT&T "to fix these problems now" in preparation for the day when it does mass marketing of local service.