As expected, the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday rejected Ameritech Corp.'s application to enter the long-distance market in Michigan. But in the process, it put existing long-distance carriers on notice that such an approval may be coming sometime soon.
The FCC actually found that Ameritech is the first regional Bell operating company to meet one of the requirements of the Telecommunications Act of 1996: to prove that it has a substantial, facilities-based local exchange competitor for ordinary phone lines. The FCC found that Brooks Fiber Properties, Inc. has nearly 22,000 residential and business access lines in the state.
That is a far cry from the recent application by RBOC SBC Communications, Inc., in Oklahoma, which could only show that one competitor interestingly enough, also Brooks Fiber had four customers, all of them Brooks Fiber employees.
But the FCC still rejected Ameritech's Michigan application because it did not meet another requirement of the telecom act: a 14-point technical checklist for local exchange competition. The FCC found that Ameritech only met 11 of the criteria. Missing were a fully open electronic interface with new competitors, competitor access to emergency 911 services, and interconnection services deemed equivalent to those it provides itself.
Still, in a marked departure from the usual acrimony surrounding telecom reform, the FCC went out of its way to praise Ameritech for trying. "Ameritech deserves recognition for its early commitment to a pro-competitive course," said Commissioner Susan Ness. "The company has made enormous progress over the past few years."
AT&T expressed overall satisfaction with the ruling. But Rick Bailey, AT&T vice president for federal government affairs, also expressed dismay that the FCC believed Brooks Fiber's market entry satisfied Ameritech's need to show that a competitor was in place.
The large long-distance carriers have pushed the FCC to require the presence of brand-name competitors in the local market before the RBOCs break into long distance. The RBOCs have labeled that concept a catch-22, since they claim the large carriers, especially AT&T, are deliberately avoiding the local market.
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