BellSouth/Florida Statement on Today's PSC UNE Decision.Business & News Editors TALLAHASSEE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 6, 2002 BellSouth: Background The Florida Public Service Commission Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) is an independent regulatory agency serving the public of Florida by managing its public utilities such as telecommunications, electricity, natural gas, water, and wastewater. (PSC (Public Service Commission) Same as PUC. ) has upheld staff recommendations for the pricing structure of unbundled network elements Unbundled Network Elements (UNE) are a requirement mandated by the United States Telecommunications Act of 1996. They are the parts of the telecommunications network that the incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) are required to offer on an unbundled basis. (UNE's). Today's decision reduces UNE pricing (the price BellSouth would be allowed to charge Competitive Local Exchange Companies (CLEC's) for use of parts of its telecommunications network A telecommunications network is a of telecommunications links and nodes arranged so that messages may be passed from one part of the network to another over multiple links and through various nodes. ) by 12% to 19%. The following statement can be attributed to Spero Canton Canton, cities, United States Canton. 1 City (1990 pop. 13,922), Fulton co., W central Ill., in the corn belt; inc. 1849. It is a trade and industrial center for a coal and farm area. 2 Town (1990 pop. 18,530), Norfolk co. , BellSouth/Florida spokesman Statement "We are disappointed by today's Commission decision. We recognize this is a complex issue and that the Commission was dealing with differing interpretations but this vote reduces Florida's UNE rates to be the lowest in the Southeast region. "Under the rates previously set by the Commission, BellSouth's service territory in Florida has surged to the forefront as one of the leading competitive regions for telecommunications Communicating information, including data, text, pictures, voice and video over long distance. See communications. in the country with more than 1.4 million access lines, served by 160 competitive carriers. "These new rates further reduce BellSouth's ability to cover its cost of providing service. "What is being determined here is the cost CLEC's will pay for using BellSouth equipment and lines to do business. AT&T and WorldCom's arguments are based on a simple business equation; they are trying to reduce expenses as much as possible and paying a fair rate from an established cost model has very little consideration in their business plan. The UNE rates AT&T and WorldCom advocate not only discriminate dis·crim·i·nate v. dis·crim·i·nat·ed, dis·crim·i·nat·ing, dis·crim·i·nates v.intr. 1. a. against BellSouth but also companies that have invested in our state, by subsidizing their competitors. "BellSouth, or any other company, should not be asked to offer UNE rates below cost and forced to lose money so competitors can have a more profitable bottom line." |
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