Justice Dept. recommended FCC approve Verizon’s application to pr...

there are no material obstacles to residential competition in Maine created by Verizon,” said Charles James, asst. attorney gen.-Antitrust Div. Thurs. marked deadline for DoJ to provide analysis to FCC of Verizon’s Sec. 271 application for Me. Verizon filed application with Commission March 21. DoJ evaluation said Verizon data showed CLECs using all modes of entry serve 50,600 lines -- 6.7% -- of all of Verizon’s service area in state. Justice said CLECs served 19.5% of all business lines in Verizon’s Me. service area and less than 1% of all residential lines. Analysis cited “few complaints” on Verizon’s OSS system for Me. “The amount of entry by competitive facilities-based carriers and resellers serving business customers in Maine and the absence of complaints regarding Verizon’s fulfillment of its obligations to open its markets to these modes of entry, lead the Department to conclude that opportunities to serve business customers via the facilities-based and resale modes of entry are available there,” evaluation said. Low levels of CLEC penetration in residential markets and lack of entry by means of CLEC’s own facilities and via unbundled network element (UNE) platform “may reflect the higher UNE pricing that was in effect for most of the period preceding this application.” Me. PUC issued orders that cut certain UNE rates within months of Verizon’s filing Sec. 271 application, DoJ said. Filing at FCC said record showed Verizon had opened local markets in Me. to competition “in most respects.”