An FCC grant of forbearance to AT&T related to reporting requirem...

Alliance, said in an interview. The draft would grant AT&T most of the relief it seeks and extend that relief to the other price-cap carriers, an FCC official told us Monday (CD Aug 26 p1). The carriers seek relief from Automated Reporting Management Information System rules, but their petitions vary in terms of specific ARMIS rules contested, Stamp said. Qwest, Embarq, Windstream and Citizens Communications, parent to Frontier and Citizens, are ITTA members. It’s likely the AT&T order would moot the Embarq, Frontier and Citizens petitions, an industry source said, but it’s unclear what Verizon and Qwest would do because the Bells want more ARMIS relief than AT&T. “The Verizon petition, and the ARMIS forbearance petitions filed by other companies did request some relief that AT&T didn’t ask for,” said a Verizon spokeswoman, declining to say more. The Qwest petition largely overlaps AT&T’s, but with differences, another industry source said. Depending on the AT&T ARMIS order’s language, Qwest may or may not drop its petition, the source said. The same reporting requirements should apply to all providers, said Jeb Benedict, Embarq federal regulatory affairs director. Embarq believes many of the ARMIS rules are “outdated and redundant,” he added.