ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 7, 1996 TAG: 9609090033
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
At least four regional telephone companies, including Bell Atlantic Corp., asked the U.S. Court of Appeals on Friday to overturn government rules designed to enable new phone networks to connect with existing local networks.
GTE, USWest and Southern New England Telephone also petitioned the court to block implementation of the Federal Communications Commission's rules while the legal challenges proceed.
The Baby Bells argue that the new rules are too detailed and take local rate-setting power from state commissions.
``The FCC's rules do not match the intent of Congress, which wanted to open markets to competition and deregulate the industry,'' said Bill McCloskey, a spokesman for BellSouth, one of the companies appealing.
``Seven hundred pages of new regulations is not deregulatory,'' he said. Pacific Telesis Group, Bell Atlantic, and SBC Communications joined BellSouth in filing appeals.
The separate appeals will be consolidated in one court.
``The commission has simply taken over the regulation of local telephony,'' the four Bell companies said. ``The transformation of local telecommunications will take place, not according to decisions made by hundreds of parties in the market or the localized decisions of state utility commission in individual arbitrations, but rather according to the uniform mold cast by the commission.''
McCloskey said BellSouth has negotiated 20 interconnection agreements in its nine-state territory, allowing local exchange competition.
``The FCC had no right to supplant these marketplace agreements or the intent of Congress with its minutely detailed rules,'' he said.
``This isn't our understanding of what Congress intended,'' said Dick Odgers, executive vice president and general counsel of Pacific Telesis.
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