Cal. PUC Comr. Michael Peevey offered agency 3rd alternative prop...

and cut local end office and tandem switching rates by 58.9%. Peevey’s proposal follows on one offered by Comr. Loretta Lynch. Her plan, based on SBC UNE rates in Ill., would cut UNE loop rate 15.1% to $9.93, cut end-office switching 69% and tandem rate 79%. Both are alternatives to administrative law judge’s proposed reductions of 26% in UNE loop rate to $8.56, with 22.5% end office switching cut and 13.8% tandem switching reduction. Peevey said that while Ill. and Tex. provided reasonable proxies of SBC’s Cal. network architecture, he preferred basing interim SBC Cal. UNE rates on Tex. rates because FCC had found those to be reasonable in SBC’s successful Sec. 271 interLATA long distance bid. Peevey agreed with Lynch and ALJ that some interim UNE rate reduction was in order due to evidence that carrier’s costs had declined since present rates were established and delays in case caused by need to examine competing cost models for arriving at permanent Bell UNE rates. PUC is examining Pac Bell’s UNE rates at behest of AT&T and WorldCom (Cases 01-02-024, 034, 035). Interim rate decision is on agenda for agency’s May 16 meeting. In related matter, different PUC ALJ recommended reducing monthly rate for unbundled high-frequency portion of Pac Bell’s loops. High-frequency subloop UNE, used for DSL and other data services, would be cut to $2.92 monthly from interim $5.85. ALJ recommended leaving unchanged $3 monthly rate for DSL portion of Verizon’s loops and making that rate permanent. ALJ would require Pac Bell to refund to CLECs difference between current interim and permanent new rates. That subject (Cases 93-04-002, 003) is on agenda for PUC’s June 6 meeting.