Investigation into ILEC Unbundling Obligations as a Result of the Federal Triennial Review Order (Docket No. T-00000A-03-0369)

On August 21, 2003, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") released its Report and Order on Remand and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, In the Matter of Review of the Section 251 Unbundling Obligations of Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers, Implementation of the Local Competition Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Deployment of Wireline Services Offering Advanced Telecommunications Capability, CC Docket Nos. 01-338, 96-98, and 98-147 ("Triennial Review Order" or "TRO").

In the TRO, the FCC made, inter alia, four national findings which are subject to a more granular review and analysis by state commissions: 1) Competitive Local Exchange Carriers ("CLECs") are not impaired without access to unbundled local switching for enterprise customers, 2) CLECs are impaired without access to unbundled local switching for mass market customers, 3) CLECs are impaired without access to unbundled high capacity loops for the enterprise market, and 4) CLECs are impaired without access to unbundled dedicated transport.

The TRO states that State Commissions must undertake a more thorough analysis of each of these four issues to determine whether or not to rebut the national findings. State Commissions are given 90 days (from October 2, 2003, the date the TRO was published in the Federal Register) to determine, based upon the evidence presented to them, whether CLECs are impaired without access to unbundled local switching for enterprise customers. State Commissions are given 9 months (from October 2, 2003) to determine, based upon the evidence presented to them, whether CLECs are not impaired without access to 1) unbundled local switching for mass market customers, 2) unbundled high capacity loops for the enterprise market, and 3) unbundled dedicated transport.