Sunday, April 19, 1998

FCC offers proposals aimed at helping local phone competition

By JEANNINE AVERSA / Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Local phone companies would be encouraged to track how well their computer systems perform for rival operators, under federal proposals offered Friday in an attempt to remove a stumbling block to opening the $110 billion local phone industry.

Long distance and cable companies who offer local phone service must use the computer systems of the Baby Bells and other major local phone companies to sign up customers, bill them and repair service.

The new proposals call on the local phone companies to track the performance of their computer systems and data bases -- known as operations support systems -- and make that information available to potential competitors.

"We need performance measurements so that we can shine a light on the conflicting claims we hear about the performance of the incumbents' systems," said Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard.

The FCC's proposals are intended to give local phone companies and state regulators guidance and would not be legally binding even if the commission adopts them at a future date.

A 1996 telecommunications law requires local phone companies to provide their rivals with "nondiscriminatory" access to their networks and their services.

If rivals don't get such access, "that competitor may be disadvantaged in the marketplace by the inability to provide service of the same timeliness or quality as the incumbent's service," the FCC said.

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, whose members include state telephone regulators, has asked the FCC to give states guidance for assessing whether the operations support systems that local phone companies provide to competitors are comparable to those they use.