Verizon Resubmits Mass. Long-Distance Application

Verizon Communications Inc. (www.verizon.com) resubmitted its application with the FCC (www.fcc.gov) to offer long-distance service in Massachusetts. The incumbent telco had pulled its in-region interLATA (local access and transport area) bid in December after deciding to include stronger evidence of local competition in the state, specifically for competitors' access to Verizon DSL lines.

The FCC now has 90 days to review the bid. The commission isn't expected to take that long to rule, however, now that the federal agency will be predominantly Republican following Chairman William E. Kennard's departure on Friday. Kennard resigned last week and at press time today, a new chairman had not been nominated yet.

In its revised application, Verizon has included new data that officials hope will answer federal regulators' concerns about the original application, including whether the telco provides nondiscriminatory access to DSL-capable loops. Competitive carriers and their representatives, who have repeatedly voiced their concerns about access to Verizon's DSL lines, are analyzing the application filing today.

"This filing builds upon our original application which clearly demonstrated that we have satisfied the 14-point checklist required for long-distance entry," said Tom Tauke, Verizon's senior vice president of external affairs and public policy, in a statement last night.

The Jan. 16 filing, announced after the close of business yesterday, incorporates the original filing that Verizon made Sept. 22 with the FCC. Tauke says that in addition to more evidence demonstrating that Verizon gives non-discriminatory access to DSL-capable loops, rivals also are receiving parity of service for installation and repair.

As examples, Tauke said that the new data demonstrates that Verizon installed 95 percent of the telephone lines used for DSL service by its wholesale customers on time in the most recent month for which data is available. He also said that about 96 percent of these lines experience no trouble in a given month, and that with respect to the small fraction that do, Verizon repairs them in a timely and nondiscriminatory manner.

The filing also contains data showing that Verizon's performance in providing line sharing, which enables competitors to provide DSL service to customers over the same line that Verizon uses to provide voice service, is equally strong, he said.

Verizon's performance results were independently validated by PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwcglobal.com), which confirmed that the results adhered to certain guidelines that were agreed to by CLECs and other carriers, and which were adopted by the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy (www.state.ma.us/dpu).

"Re-filing puts to rest any concerns that interested parties did not have adequate opportunity to comment on all issues," Tauke said.

He pointed out that competitors in the Massachusetts telecom market now serve 800,000 lines in the state, 100,000 more lines than they did when the original application was filed. Today, Verizon's competitors serve more than 18 percent of the retail lines in the state, Tauke said.

"This level of CLEC penetration is greater than the level in either New York or Texas at the time those [Section] 271 applications were filed," Tauke said.

"We are confident that when the FCC evaluates the record, it will quickly agree that we have more than satisfied all the requirements," Tauke said.

Verizon filed its original Massachusetts long-distance application with the FCC last fall following the state's review and independent OSS tests. The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy recommended to the FCC that it approve Verizon's application.

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