Competitors pushed back against incumbent local exchange carriers...
Competitors pushed back against incumbent local exchange carriers on a rural ILEC’s petition concerning VoIP interconnection rights. Vermont Telephone wants the FCC to rule that it need not interconnect with Comcast Phone, a VoIP carrier (CD May 21 p7).…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
The petition is “another attempt by a rural incumbent LEC to block or forestall entry by a competitor,” CompTel said. Sprint Nextel agreed, rejecting ILEC-claimed “confusion” on interconnection rules. If ILECs are confused, the FCC should make three rulings, Sprint said: (1) An ILEC may not refuse to negotiate with a certified carrier on the basis that it “thinks” the carrier “might not be” a telecom carrier, (2) All ILECs must negotiate in good faith with requesting carriers, and (3) After receiving an interconnection request, ILECs must provide interim arrangements, number portability and dialing parity. But ILECs said it’s competitors who are guilty of regulatory abuse. “Interconnected VoIP providers and associated wholesale carriers are doing everything they can to evade responsibilities normally required of carriers, particularly with respect to compensating network providers for traffic termination,” said reply comments by the National Exchange Carrier Association, Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance and two other ILEC groups. The FCC should confirm interconnection rules to curb violations, they said.