Baby Bells force the issue in dispute over new FCC rules

Local telecoms companies BellSouth, Qwest Communications, SBC Communications and Verizon Communications – the so-called ‘Baby Bells’ – have implored the US courts to urgently review their petition challenging the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) new rules on network access. The regulator’s rules, adopted last month, require the operators to provide competitors with low-cost access to parts of their network, allowing rivals such as AT&T to resell services to business customers in areas where the FCC considers there is little or no competition. However, the Baby Bells assert that the new legislation employs a formula for determining competition that contradicts previous court orders, and that the FCC is effectively ‘picking and choosing which aspects of the Court’s mandate to follow.’