* Supreme Court passes up hearing appeals on UNE-P rollback
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal concerning a court decision that threw out the FCC’s rules for requiring incumbent local exchange carriers to share their networks with other service providers. Long-distance carriers, such as AT&T, and state regulators had sought a reversal of an appeals court decision throwing out the existing rules that forced the RBOCs to share their networks with prospective competitors for local telephone and data services. The RBOCs will now renegotiate with competitors for access to their networks while the FCC rewrites its rules governing access to those networks. The new rules are expected to be unveiled by year-end. http://www.nwfusion.com/edge/news/2004/1012supreme.html
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal concerning a court decision that threw out the FCC’s rules for requiring incumbent local exchange carriers to share their networks with other service providers. Long-distance carriers, such as AT&T, and state regulators had sought a reversal of an appeals court decision throwing out the existing rules that forced the RBOCs to share their networks with prospective competitors for local telephone and data services. The RBOCs will now renegotiate with competitors for access to their networks while the FCC rewrites its rules governing access to those networks. The new rules are expected to be unveiled by year-end.
https://www.nwfusion.com/edge/news/2004/1012supreme.html
At the Telecom ’04 trade show in Las Vegas, top executives of Verizon and Comcast both urged decreased regulation of communications. While Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg urged a total rewrite of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Comcast President and CEO Brian Roberts warned against opening a can of worms through such a wholesale approach. New technology has transformed the communications world since the 1996 act was passed, Seidenberg said. Now that cable companies can offer voice calling and carriers are heading toward multimedia services such as IP TV, competition is driving innovation on both sides, he said.
https://www.nwfusion.com/edge/news/2004/1011verizon.html
The major U.S. regional carriers want to leapfrog cable operators with advanced video services over IP, and expected upcoming FCC rulings may help pave the way for those rollouts. SBC expects the agency to issue a favorable ruling on whether and how SBC has to make its planned fiber network available to competitors. Not knowing how it might have to treat that network has forced the carrier to hold back on deployment.
