While countries such as Japan and Mexico are starting to remove obstacles to competition, serious problems persist, telecom companies and equipment makers told U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office. USTR sought comments in Jan. as part of annual review on effectiveness of U.S. trade agreements involving telecom products and services, including World Trade Organization’s (WTO) basic telecom agreement. Commenters also pointed frequently to competition hurdles in European Union (EU) member states, urging U.S. in some cases to seek stricter implementation of existing EU directives. Concerns raised by telecom companies, which in part centered on interconnection rates, provide road map of lingering telecom market-opening issues that would face USTR under Bush nominee Robert Zoellick.
U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., ruling Tues. that rejected SBC’s advanced services subsidiary (CD Jan 10 p1) appeared to have raised more questions than it answered. Observers questioned Wed. whether decision might pressure Congress to revise Telecom Act to account for advanced services, how ruling would affect similar arrangement at Verizon and how it might play out under new Republican FCC. Court overturned trade-off FCC made with SBC: FCC allowed SBC to provide advanced services free of interconnection requirements if company formed separate affiliate to provide those services. In response to appeal filed by Assn. of Communications Enterprises (ASCENT), court ruled FCC didn’t have authority to forgo interconnection requirements of Sec. 251(c) just because SBC was providing advanced, rather than basic, services and using separate subsidiary. ASCENT represents competitive carriers, particularly those that resale ILEC service.