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The FCC yesterday (6/26) rejected SBC Communications Inc.'s {SBC} application to provide long-distance service in Oklahoma. The commission agreed with the Justice Department's (DoJ's) conclusions (CT, 5/19), saying that SBC has failed to show it faces local competition in the state for both residential and business service.
Yesterday's decision by the FCC was the first time the commission rendered a final verdict on a Bell operating company's (BOC's) application to provide long-distance service on its home turf. Ameritech Corp. {AIT} still has an application (for the state of Michigan) pending with the commission. That company suffered a setback Wednesday (6/25), however, when the DoJ recommended to the commission that it give thumbs down to Ameritech's request (CT, 6/26).
The FCC dismissed SBC's contention that Brooks Fiber Properties Inc. {BFPT}, a recent local entrant in Oklahoma, provides service to residential customers as well as to businesses. "The commission concluded that the provision of local exchange service by Brooks on a test basis to the homes of four of its employees does not qualify Brooks as a competing provider of telephone exchange service to residential subscribers," the agency explained. "Brooks has represented that it currently is not accepting requests for residential service in Oklahoma."
The commission's arguments were in line with those of the DoJ, which had called SBC's application "premature." The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC), however, had told the FCC that SBC fulfilled all the requirements. SBC Says Oklahoma Commission Had It Right The FCC's decision "ignores completely the thoughtful action of the {OCC}u-the only body that conducted a full investigation into whether we have complied with the law," said David Lopez, president of Southwestern Bell of Oklahoma. "The OCC concluded that our entry into long- distance would indeed be in the public interest. Neither the FCC nor the {DoJ} participated in any Oklahoma hearings, yet both felt qualified enough to judge the situation here."
The FCC also dealt a blow to BOCs which have argued that they should be able to enter the in-region long-distance market under the so-called Track B route if they have opened up their local markets to competition while, at the same time, no "operational"...