Press Release

Final Ruling Expected by June 25

    HARRISBURG, Pa. ¾ Moving to break the logjam in local phone competition, the Public Utility Commission (PUC) today voted to hold accelerated hearings on various telecommunications issues pending before it.

    Beginning April 23, the underlying issues will be heard before the full PUC as the parties present their arguments to the five commissioners. Hearings will also be held on April 29 and 30 and May 3. The PUC expects to issue a final order on or before June 25.

    Today’s action stems in part from proposals recently filed by two phone company coalitions, after the conclusion of PUC-sponsored global settlement talks.

    "It has become clear that the global settlement talks have significantly advanced the resolution of telecommunications issues," said PUC Chairman John M. Quain. "The filing of these two petitions is indicative of the cooperation and hard work of those involved to adopt mutually satisfactory resolutions of outstanding issues."

    Commissioner David W. Rolka added that both the proposals would be considered in the hearings to help craft a final resolution to the issues.

    "We recognize that neither petition is ‘global’ and that a final result must be supported by record evidence," he said. "However, the two petitions are very close on several issues and we hope that the pre-hearing time will be used to secure stipulated resolution of those issues so that the hearing time can be used efficiently."

    The following proceedings will be addressed in the hearings:

• Bell Atlantic-PA’s petition to determine whether intraLATA toll service is competitive under Chapter 30 of the Public Utility Code, and Bell’s Section 271 proceeding (interLATA) under the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996;
  
• Bell’s petition to determine whether its business services are competitive;
  
• The PUC’s generic investigation into access charge reform. Access charges are the fees a long distance provider, like AT&T, pays to the local phone company to use the local network for toll calls;
  
• Issues surrounding universal service, including a universal service funding mechanism;
  
• The PUC’s rulemaking to update and revise existing tariff filing requirements for local exchange carriers; and
  
• The PUC’s investigation into unbundled network elements, commonly referred to as the MFS IV proceeding.

    The PUC initiated global telecommunications settlement talks last October to try and resolve various issues hindering local telephone competition. On March 1, Quain and Rolka issued a third and final offer sheet with proposed solutions. At that point, the commissioners also removed themselves from further settlement discussions. The two settlement proposals were developed after the end of the PUC-sponsored settlement talks.

    The PUC has been working to implement local telephone competition since passage of Chapter 30 of the Public Utility Code in 1993. In 1996, Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which further called for local telephone competition.

    For additional press releases and more information about the PUC, visit our Internet home page at: http://puc.paonline.com.

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