FCC Denies AT&T 271 Complaint Against Defunct NYNEX

Communications Today, August 24, 2001

Here's another example of just how much the telecommunications landscape has changed in the last few years.

On Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission released an order denying a 1997 complaint filed by AT&T [T] alleging that the former New York Telephone Company and New England Telephone and Telegraph Company (NYNEX) violated Section 271 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 when it introduced a service that allowed customers to make long distance as well as local calls.

Since AT&T filed the complaint, NYNEX was acquired by Bell Atlantic, which later merged with GTE to form Verizon [VZ].

In 1996, NYNEX teamed with Sprint [FON] to offer 1-800-54NYNEX, a service that enabled NYNEX customers to make local, regional and long distance calls by dialing a toll-free 1-800 number and then entering a calling card number and PIN. AT&T's primary contention, according to the FCC, was that the service allowed NYNEX--a Bell company--to provide interLATA phone services without satisfying local-loop access requirements spelled out in Section 271.

The FCC said that the facts in the case did not support granting AT&T's complaint. AT&T said that it had no comment on the matter. Verizon did not return a telephone request for comment.

After NYNEX's merger with Bell Atlantic, the new telco replaced the 1- 800-54NYNEX with another calling card, which was not challenged by AT&T, the FCC noted. Also, in 1999, Bell Atlantic received FCC authorization to provide interLATA services in New York under Section 271.

--Bruce Sullivan, bsullivan@pbimedia.com >TK Sycamore Networks [SCMR]: 360networks [TSIX]: