Verizon Applies for Long Distance Authority in Pennsylvania

Verizon Communications (www.verizon.com) late yesterday filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (www.fcc.gov) seeking approval to provide long-distance service in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania is the fourth state in which Verizon has applied for long-distance authority. To receive authority, the telco must prove that it is in compliance with the 14-point checklist outlined in section 271 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The company’s application must also receive the blessings of the state regulatory commission before proceeding to the FCC.

Pennsylvania regulators, on June 6, approved Verizon’s application, with some conditions attached. The Pennsylvania PUC (http://puc.paonline.com) has spent the last two years scrutinizing Verizon’s compliance with the checklist and the company’s openness to local competition in the state.

Verizon points to several facts to prove that local competition is thriving in Pennsylvania. It reports that competitors are serving about 1 million local phone lines in the state and exchanging about 2 billion minutes of voice and data traffic with Verizon each month.

Faced with ever increasing competition in its long-distance business line, AT&T Corp. (www.att.com) called Verizon’s filing “arrogant,” because the state regulators have yet to issue their report to the FCC. “Verizon is following its own timetable, obviously driving by profit motive, in rushing its application to the FCC before Pennsylvania regulators have had the opportunity to relay their full consultative report to the FCC,” Jim Ginty, president of AT&T-Pennsylvania, said in a statement.

The FCC has 90 days review Verizon’s application, with the Pennsylvania PUC and Department of Justice providing their recommendations prior to the final FCC decision.

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines