FCC rejects part of Texas phone rulings

Article Abstract:

The FCC dismissed three Texas state rules on local phone competition, citing a conflict with new federal laws which promote competition. The action marked a challenge for states to create equal opportunity for companies seeking to enter the US local phone markets. The principal Texas rule in question, passed by the Texas legislature in 1995, forced new companies to construct telephone networks in a 27-sq-mile area that surrounded any prospective Texas market. A second Texas rule limited the number of entrants into markets with less than 31,000 access lines. A third Texas rule restricted statewide resale of centrex phone services. New entrants rely almost completely on state commissions to uphold local phone network access at reasonable prices. State commissions also must determine that interconnection deal between local phone companies and the new rivals meet federal standards while avoiding hardship on the new companies.

United States. Federal Communications Commission, Economic policy

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Writing the rules; will competition arrive smoothly? That's largely up to state regulators

Article Abstract:

Responsibility for the deregulation of US local telephone services required by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 will fall on the shoulders of people like Patrick Wood, the chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission. These people will make the decisions as to how much it will cost for telephone companies to interconnect with local telephone networks, or how customers can keep their telephone numbers when they switch service providers and how to fund the universal services for low-income customers. The FCC's 700 pages of rules for deregulating the telecommunications industry leave the responsibility for implementing deregulation to state regulators, such as Wood. The Telecommunications Act gives existing monopolies an advantage in Texas, but Wood and other state commissioners are determined to make it easy for competitors to enter this market.

Telecommunications systems

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Telecom victory is expected for cities; FCC prepares to let stand Troy, Mich ordinance on phone competition

Article Abstract:

FCC regulators are expected to allow the city of Troy, MI to charge fees to cable operators and telephone-companies seeking to install equipment for local phone service. While the FCC does not encourage such ordinances, the expected ruling will allow other cities to raise an estimated $20 billion a year. There is a possibility that the agency will allow the Troy ordinance and use another case to limit similar ordinances. The cable and phone companies claim that Troy's ordinance and others like it will unfairly hinder competition and create regulatory obstacles that the telecommunications deregulations legislation was designed to eliminate. Such ordinances could create a jumble of different fees in every municipality. Cities claim they have the power to grant or charge for usage of 'rights of way' beneath public thoroughfares.

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