WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Federal Communications Commission this week is likely to provide the first chance in nearly 16 years for users to employ a regional Bell operating company for long-distance service.
The FCC is expected to give at least partial endorsement of Bell Atlantic's application to provide long-distance services for businesses and residences in New York State. Network managers in New York generally say they'd applaud a "yes" vote by the five-member commission, because it would end excuses by Bell Atlantic that it can't carry traffic beyond local boundaries.
The FCC is required to rule on Bell Atlantic's application by Dec. 28 - 90 days after it was first filed - but agency officials have been putting out the word they will try to vote before the Christmas holiday.
RBOCs have been barred from carrying long-distance traffic since they were created in the original AT&T divestiture in January 1984.
Unlike past applications by RBOCs - all of which the FCC turned down - Bell Atlantic's application is "highly likely" to be approved, said a note to investors sent out last week by the Legg Mason Precursor Group. Legg Mason analyst Scott Cleland in Washington, D.C. noted the "complete absence of traditional negative signals from the FCC," such as commissioner statements that the application needs more work.
FCC Chairman William Kennard has refused to tip his hand on the vote. But the New York Public Service Commission recently submitted a report to the FCC showing that Bell Atlantic completes the switchover of local competitors' orders on time 93% of the time - a key metric for the FCC to decide whether Bell Atlantic is ready for long-distance.
Users last week said they are looking for RBOCs to break their local boundaries to create more competition for end-to-end services. George Sullivan, senior network architect at Northrop Grumman in Bethpage, N.Y., says he's examining bundles of local and long-distance services for smaller offices using digital subscriber line (DSL) access.
But while AT&T and MCI WorldCom have talked about DSL projects and competitive DSL carrier Covad has entered the local market, Bell Atlantic is "more credible than the other vendors because they have the wires," Sullivan says. Bell Atlantic has a lot of work to do to clean up its copper plant, he adds, but long-distance authority would give the company more incentive to do so.
Other users say the New York application won't mean much until Bell Atlantic gets long-distance authority in its other states.
"Bell Atlantic has the potential to become the vendor of choice from Maine to Virginia, but only if they can radically remake themselves in terms of marketing structure and rates," says Ellen Van Cleve, first vice president of the Communi-cations Managers Association, a New York-based user group. "They need to be able to treat all company locations within their territory as a single entity for the application of discounts."
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Recent articles and columns by Rohde
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Network World, 12/20/99.
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Network World, 7/28/99.
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