AT&T will give the FCC usable accounting data at the agency’s req...

the FCC conditioned forbearance on Wireline Bureau approval of the plan (CD April 28 p5). AT&T will maintain Uniform System of Accounts books “for all of its regulated operating telephone companies,” including “account-specific investment, expense and revenue data,” the carrier said. AT&T will maintain the most recent calendar year’s Cost Allocation Manual audit-based cost allocation ratios, it said. “These allocation ratios, determined from studies and other processes … would be immediately available in the event the [FCC] were in the future to request accounting cost data allocated by those ratios,” it said. But if the agency asks for them, “AT&T reserves the right to update the ratios to take into account changes that have taken place” since the plan’s filing that “have rendered the ratios significantly less reliable,” it said. If the FCC needs data based on factors other than allocation ratios, “AT&T can perform special cost studies to determine those factors,” it said. AT&T will keep documentation of existing methods and procedures for cost allocation, and backup media copies of electronic systems, spreadsheets and other software used for cost assignment, it said. The carrier will keep documentation on how to record affiliate transactions. AT&T doesn’t expect a long transition for the changes, it said. “A significant portion … will take place immediately, though some impacts and processes may take somewhat longer to implement fully,” it said. “The procedures that AT&T proposes to ensure continued compliance with Section 272(e)(3), the Section 272 Sunset Order, and Section 254(k) are already in place,” while providing phone exchange service and access to AT&T ILECs and affiliates “have not historically relied upon allocated accounting cost data,” it said. CompTel, which opposed forbearance, is reviewing the filing, a spokeswoman said. The competitive carriers group hopes “that the [FCC] seeks comments on the plan prior to taking action on it.” A Sprint Nextel spokesman agreed. “Given the importance and unprecedented nature of an FCC bureau approving a new regulatory structure for a dominant carrier, we believe that the FCC should seek and consider input on the plan from AT&T’s competitors, its customers and the general public.”