Citing legal and marketplace changes, FCC has opened inquiry to r...

carrier, particularly if carrier was one other than AT&T. At time there was concern that Bells would favor AT&T, their former parent. In Notice of Inquiry (NOI) issued Thurs., FCC said it wanted to “establish a modern equal access and nondiscrimination regulatory regime” and said rules reflected concerns that existed when Bells were only local providers and couldn’t offer long distance services. Inquiry will focus on Sec. 251(g) of Telecom Act, which preserved equal access and other obligations stemming from AT&T divestiture. FCC said it wanted comment on “how it should go about changing or eliminating any existing equal access and nondiscrimination requirements, should it decide to do so.” Agency said Sec. 251(g) states that pre-Telecom Act requirements must remain until they were superseded by new rules. In light of that, agency asked whether it should adopt new rules to replace those requirements or whether it was enough for FCC to state that requirements weren’t necessary anymore. Among other things, agency asked whether rules were relevant, which carriers now were covered by those rules, and whether equal access could be achieved “through any other means.” Comments also should “discuss the differences between the obligations of BOCs [Bell operating companies] that have not yet obtained Sec. 271 authority and those that have.” Comments will be due 60 days after NOI is published in Federal Register -- CC Doc. 02-39.