ALTS Proposes Compromise Solution On Enhanced Extended Links.

Business Editors

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 24, 2000

Proposal Allows CLECs to Expand Services in An Efficient and

Timely Manner, And Addresses Incumbents' Concerns on Long Distance

Companies' Access Arbitrage

The Association for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS) today proposed a breakthrough compromise that will stimulate the growth of competitive local telecom services.

ALTS' approach on local facilities called Enhanced Extended Links (EELs) is the first consensus agreement among facilities-based competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) on this issue. Significantly, it meets the needs of CLECs, resolves concerns over rate shock on access charges - and opens the door for expediting more competitive choices for consumers.

ALTS, the leading national trade association representing facilities-based CLECs, submitted its compromise proposal in an ex parte letter to the Federal Communications Commission. The ex parte presents a balanced position on rules and policies that should govern the combinations of unbundled network elements (UNEs) known in the industry as EELs.

EELs are combinations of loops and interoffice transport and are critical to the development of facilities-based competition for local services.

"We believe our compromise proposal will resolve the controversy surrounding the provisioning of EELs. To date, several parties have submitted alternative views concerning the EEL, but ALTS' proposal is the first to reflect a consensus agreement among facilities-based competitors," said John D. Windhausen, Jr., President of ALTS. "Our compromise proposal allows EELs to be provided quickly and legally to competitors, without compromising the ILECs' special access revenues."

Last year, the FCC said that EELs could only be used to carry "local" traffic. Several carriers expressed concern, however, that this standard was vague and difficult to enforce. Facilities-based carriers expressed concern that the incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) would refuse to provide EELs if they could be used to bypass the ILECs' access services.

"We are proposing some limited restrictions on EELs for a reasonable transition period," said Jonathan Askin, General Counsel of ALTS. "Our proposal ensures that CLECs can use the EEL to provide local voice and data services, without allowing long distance companies to circumvent the current access regime."

The interim solution proposed by ALTS includes the following:

-- Any use restrictions must be narrowly tailored to a limited purpose -
preventing the use of EELs to bypass existing access charge services;

-- Use restrictions must not interfere with a CLEC's ability to provide local
voice, data or Internet access service;

-- Any auditing rules must be reasonable and protect CLECs against harassment;
and

-- The FCC must clarify procedures for ordering and provisioning EELs to ensure
that EELs are provisioned in a timely, efficient and cost-effective manner.

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 more than 200 companies that build, own, and operate competitive local networks.

For more information on ALTS, contact Crawford Public Relations at 703/318-5460 or visit www.alts.org.