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COMPTEL Supports Michigan PSC in AT&T Lawsuit Challenging Order to Comply with IP Interconnection Obligations(Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 -- The Competitive Telecommunications Association issued the following news release: COMPTEL, the leading trade association for the competitive communications industry, today filed an amici curiae brief with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan in support of the Michigan Public Service Commission's (PSC) order of arbitration concerning an interconnection dispute between AT&T and Sprint that required AT&T to comply with the interconnection provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 ("Act"), regardless of the technology involved. COMPTEL joined with the Midwest Association of Competitive Communications, Inc. (MACC), a coalition of competitive carriers, in underscoring the fact that despite AT&T's claims, today's telecommunications laws require interconnection on a technology neutral basis and all interconnection agreements must be filed with state commissions for approval to ensure that they do not discriminate against other carriers and are in the public interest. In December 2013, the Michigan PSC issued an arbitration order requiring AT&T to comply with its obligations under the interconnection provisions of the Act and enter into an agreement for IP interconnection with Sprint. AT&T subsequently filed suit in federal district court challenging the PSC's determination that the Act requires AT&T and other incumbents to provide IP interconnection. "With its order, the Michigan PSC has taken an important step in standing up to AT&T, and requiring it to comply with its interconnection obligations, regardless of the technology involved," said Chip Pickering, CEO of COMPTEL. "We believe the PSC's action sets an important precedent for other states and the FCC in ensuring carriers have the rights to IP interconnection for voice communications nationwide." In the brief filed today, COMPTEL and MACC noted that "[i]n this case, the MPSC correctly recognized that the plain terms of Section 251(c)(2) are technology neutral and therefore require incumbent LECs to provide IP interconnection. The Commission's decision will promote competition and enable competitive telecommunications carriers to leverage the efficiencies of IP interconnection to the benefit of Michigan consumers and businesses."Competitive carriers have been at the forefront of the IP transition, investing in IP networks and offering IP-based services to their customers for well over a decade. For consumers to realize the benefits of IP technology, competitors must be able to reach an agreement for IP interconnection with the incumbent, and that agreement must contain just and reasonable terms. Consequently, one of the critical factors to eliminating barriers to the industry's transition to IP - such as competitors having to downgrade their services to TDM technology in order to exchange traffic with AT&T - and to ensuring that competition will not be stifled once the technology transitions that are well underway are complete, is action by state commissions to require the major incumbent local exchange carriers, such as AT&T, to comply with their obligations under Sections 251 and 252 of the Act, regardless of the technology involved. [Category: Telecommunications] TNS 24HariCha-140816-30FurigayJane-4830567 30FurigayJane (c) 2014 Targeted News Service |