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Union, Industry, Powell Appalled at FCC Decision
CWA, RBOCs and even the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission all condemned the FCC's decision to abandon its responsibility to regulate the leasing of local telephone lines and switches to state regulators. CWA President Morton Bahr called the decision a disaster and pledged that CWA will work diligently in the states to safeguard workers' jobs, particularly in legislative battles over the next nine months leading up to state deadlines.
"This extremely shortsighted decision will do significant harm not only to workers, who will lose jobs as the telecom sector continues its free fall, but to consumers who will suffer from the lack of competition and services development as companies like AT&T and WorldCom refuse to invest in network elements. The FCC missed a real opportunity to boost investment in telecommunications, which would have produced a positive impact on our struggling national economy," Bahr said.
The regional Bell companies and long distance companies that offer local phone service have long been at odds over the requirement that local exchange carriers, which own the infrastructure, lease their equipment to competitors at rates that often are below cost. Companies like AT&T and WorldCom lease access to the unbundled network element platform, or UNE-P, at rates that have been regulated by FCC oversight.
In recent months state public service commissions have slashed UNE-P prices to the point that the cost of maintaining leased infrastructure places a financial drain on the Bells which ultimately threatens the livelihood of CWA members.
Bahr criticized AT&T's position on UNE-P in a March 3 letter to local presidents in the AT&T bargaining unit. "The current situation where all the telcos, RBOCs and independents must lease their lines and equipment at prices that are below cost is just plain idiotic and indefensible," Bahr said.
He took AT&T Chairman and CEO David Dorman to task for multiple distortions of CWA's position, which sought a reasonable transition period for phasing out UNE-P until competition could become facilities-based as required by the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
While Dorman had sought a three-year extension of UNE-P, Bahr pointed out that, "AT&T has 146 switches and could compete facilities-based, but management does not want to spend the money necessary to tie it all together when they can get it so cheap from the RBOCs."
FCC Chairman Michael Powell on March 4 said that AT&T and WorldCom would not have been put out of business if the agency had ruled differently Feb. 20 on phasing out UNE-P. Expressing extreme disappointment at the commission's 3-2 vote to hand off its responsibility, Powell told industry journal TR Daily that the triennial review decision "does very little to help with the economy, and the economy will suffer the consequences of it. In some ways it's the worst decision that (the commission) could have possibly made. It does not embrace a coherent federal policy."
"This extremely shortsighted decision will do significant harm not only to workers, who will lose jobs as the telecom sector continues its free fall, but to consumers who will suffer from the lack of competition and services development as companies like AT&T and WorldCom refuse to invest in network elements. The FCC missed a real opportunity to boost investment in telecommunications, which would have produced a positive impact on our struggling national economy," Bahr said.
The regional Bell companies and long distance companies that offer local phone service have long been at odds over the requirement that local exchange carriers, which own the infrastructure, lease their equipment to competitors at rates that often are below cost. Companies like AT&T and WorldCom lease access to the unbundled network element platform, or UNE-P, at rates that have been regulated by FCC oversight.
In recent months state public service commissions have slashed UNE-P prices to the point that the cost of maintaining leased infrastructure places a financial drain on the Bells which ultimately threatens the livelihood of CWA members.
Bahr criticized AT&T's position on UNE-P in a March 3 letter to local presidents in the AT&T bargaining unit. "The current situation where all the telcos, RBOCs and independents must lease their lines and equipment at prices that are below cost is just plain idiotic and indefensible," Bahr said.
He took AT&T Chairman and CEO David Dorman to task for multiple distortions of CWA's position, which sought a reasonable transition period for phasing out UNE-P until competition could become facilities-based as required by the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
While Dorman had sought a three-year extension of UNE-P, Bahr pointed out that, "AT&T has 146 switches and could compete facilities-based, but management does not want to spend the money necessary to tie it all together when they can get it so cheap from the RBOCs."
FCC Chairman Michael Powell on March 4 said that AT&T and WorldCom would not have been put out of business if the agency had ruled differently Feb. 20 on phasing out UNE-P. Expressing extreme disappointment at the commission's 3-2 vote to hand off its responsibility, Powell told industry journal TR Daily that the triennial review decision "does very little to help with the economy, and the economy will suffer the consequences of it. In some ways it's the worst decision that (the commission) could have possibly made. It does not embrace a coherent federal policy."