ALTS Asks Fcc to Ensure That SBC'S "Project Pronto" Does Not Thwart Competition and Innovation.Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 3, 2000 The Association for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS ALTS Association for Local Telecommunications Services ALTS Aarhus Lawn Tennis Selskab (Denmark) ALTS Annotated Labeled Transition System ALTS Analogue Line Terminating Subsystem ALTS Automatic Laser Tracking System ), the leading national trade association representing facilities-based competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), today asked the Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. (FCC (1) (Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC, www.fcc.gov) The U.S. government agency that regulates interstate and international communications including wire, cable, radio, TV and satellite. The FCC was created under the U.S. ) to ensure that SBC (1) (SBC Communications Inc., San Antonio, TX, www.sbc.com) A large, national telecommunications company that grew from a multitude of local and regional companies, including Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell, into a single, unified brand by 2002. Communications' "Project Pronto pron·to adv. Informal Without delay; quickly. [Spanish, from Latin pr  mptus; see prompt. " does not thwart the pro-competitive goals of the Telecom Act and the FCC's implementing rules. In comments to the FCC, ALTS urged the Commission to ensure that local network architecture is open to competitors, and to convene a public forum on the issue. SBC Communications has requested a waiver of its Ameritech Merger Conditions in order to implement a new Digital Loop Electronics (DLE (character) DLE - Data Link Escape, the mnemonic for ASCII 16. ) network architecture called "Project Pronto." Under SBC's proposal, CLECs will be hampered in their ability to obtain the unbundled copper loops necessary to deploy many flavors of DSL-based services in "Project Pronto" areas. ALTS sees the proposal as a legitimate attempt to bring broadband to consumers, but wants the FCC to ensure that it does not thwart competitive entry and deployment of alternative, innovative technologies. "We are concerned that SBC's proposal may severely curtail customer choice in voice and advanced services," said John D. Windhausen, Jr., President of ALTS. "The FCC should ensure customer choice and true opportunities for facilities-based competition by expressly requiring SBC to comply with all federal unbundling A regulatory requirement that enables a competing service provider to purchase parts of the incumbent local exchange carrier's network in order to provide service to its customers. See ILEC. and interconnection obligations for competitive carriers." "While SBC's proposal is not unlawful, it has significant potential to undermine the pro-competitive goals of the Telecom Act," said Jonathan Askin, ALTS' General Counsel. "The FCC, not SBC, is the arbiter of competitive provisioning of local telecommunications networks, and it must ensure that SBC complies with all the obligations of the Telecom Act and the FCC's implementing rules." According to ALTS, the SBC proposal affects not only DSL DSL in full Digital Subscriber Line Broadband digital communications connection that operates over standard copper telephone wires. It requires a DSL modem, which splits transmissions into two frequency bands: the lower frequencies for voice (ordinary providers, but also all CLECs that must interconnect with SBC's network. Project Pronto will significantly change current local network architecture, adding a projected 20,000 new remote terminals throughout SBC's 13-state region. "Network reconfiguration must be done in a manner that promotes competition and innovation," said Askin. "Reconfiguring the network must not simply serve as a means to thwart innovation, deny competitive access to the network, and circumvent the pro-competitive goals of the Telecom Act and the FCC's implementing rules." "As the Merger Conditions state, SBC must comply with all existing and future FCC rules governing unbundling and interconnection," said Askin. "If Project Pronto goes forward as proposed, the FCC should explicitly reiterate that all rules governing collocation, UNEs, line sharing and spectrum management must apply to SBC." ALTS is the leading national industry association whose mission is to promote facilities-based local telecommunications competition. Created in 1987, ALTS has offices in Washington, D.C. and Irvine, California and now represents almost 200 companies that build, own, and operate competitive local networks. For more information on ALTS, contact Crawford Public Relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most at 703/318-5461, or visit the ALTS Web site at www.alts.org. |
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