ILECs, CLECs Raise Concerns With CPUC Plan to Open Rural Markets

Independent small LECs suggested ways to tighten proposed conditions in a California Public Utilities Commission plan to conditionally open 13 small LEC markets to wireline competition (see 2007060047). The CPUC may vote Aug. 6. CalTel and other rural telcos still disagree with opening the markets, but stronger conditions could help “avoid discrimination in build-out, prevent cream-skimming, ensure a level playing field ... and fulfill critical regulatory oversight and consumer protection functions,” they said Monday in docket R.11-11-007. Cable operators wanted the CPUC to open the markets, but the California Cable & Telecommunications Association condemned proposed conditions as “harmful to CLECs and ultimately to consumers.” They're “procedurally improper, discriminatory, overly burdensome” and will deter competitive entry, CCTA said. The Utility Reform Network “generally” supported the CPUC proposal. “It will remove entry barriers that currently prevent CLECs from expanding into the service areas of the Small LECs, while at the same time including appropriate protections to ensure that the benefits of competition are not so narrow as to undermine the public interest,” TURN said.