Opinion ID: 612649
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Does the number of business lines in a wire center include only UNE loops connecting end-user customers with ILEC offices for switched services?

Text: The second and third sentences of the business line definition state: The number of business lines in a wire center shall equal the sum of all incumbent LEC business switched access lines, plus the sum of all UNE loops connected to that wire center, including UNE loops provisioned in combination with other unbundled elements. Among these requirements, business line tallies: (1) Shall include only those access lines connecting end-user customers with incumbent LEC end-offices for switched services, (2) Shall not include non-switched special access lines, (3) Shall account for ISDN and other digital access lines by counting each 64 kbps-equivalent as one line. For example, a DS1 line corresponds to 24 64 kbps-equivalents, and therefore to 24 business lines. 47 C.F.R. § 51.5. Qwest and the FCC contend that the first two clauses of the third sentence apply to ILEC lines only and, therefore, that non-switched UNE loops are included in the business line count. Defendants argue that the third sentence's limitations apply to all access lines, whether ILEC lines or UNE loops. First, we conclude that the regulation is ambiguous in this regard. Second, we conclude that the FCC's interpretation is not plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation, and we have been provided no reason to suspect that the FCC's brief does not reflect the agency's fair and considered judgment on the matter. Therefore, although we are reluctant to afford such solicitude to an agency's amicus brief and we would not necessarily reach the same result if not required to defer to the FCC, cf. Talk Am., 131 S.Ct. at 2266 (Scalia, J., concurring) (It is comforting to know that I would reach the Court's result even without Auer .), Supreme Court precedent requires us to defer to the FCC's interpretation. See Id. at 2261 (majority opinion). The FCC contends that the third sentence of the business line rule does not override the explicit directive in the second sentence that the business line count shall include `all UNE loops.' [9] FCC Br. at 23 (footnote omitted). In order to ensure that all UNE loops are included, the first and second subsections of the third sentence are best read to relate solely to the first element of the business line count  `all incumbent LEC business switched access lines.' Id. This reading is not inconsistent with the regulation's language. Defendants argue that the third sentence's limitations must apply to both ILEC lines and UNEs because the third sentence applies to business line tallies. Defendants argue that the term tallies must refer to the two separate tallies established in the second sentence: incumbent LEC business switched access lines and UNE loops. See Defs. Resp. to FCC Br. at 7-8. We disagree. The phrase business line tallies could also refer generally to business line counts. This would mean that the third sentence provides modifications to the business line count established in the second sentence. Defendants also argue that the FCC's interpretation is erroneous because it affords an inconsistent meaning to the word all in the second sentence. Defendants' argument misses the mark. The third sentence does not change the meaning of all when it provides adjustments to the business line count. All means the same thing in both parts of the second sentence  it means that every ILEC business switched access line and every UNE loop is counted. The third sentence then removes certain lines from that subtotal. [10] The FCC's interpretation is also consistent with its explanation in the TRRO of how it developed the method of counting business lines. In order to create an easily administrable standard, the FCC based business line counts on an objective set of data that incumbent LECs already have created for other regulatory purposes. TRRO ¶ 105. These objective data were an ARMIS filing required of incumbent LECs, and ... UNE figures, which must also be reported.... Id. The ARMIS filing requires ILECs to separately report their switched and non-switched access lines in service, see ARMIS Report Definition, but the filing relating to UNEs does not, see In the Matter of Local Telephone Competition and Broadband Reporting, 19 FCC Red. 22340, App. D (Released Nov. 12, 2004); see also FCC Br. at 22 (stating that reported UNE data cover aggregate UNE loop figures  not just the subset of UNE loops that are connected to switches). The FCC's interpretation of § 51.5 is consistent with existing reporting requirements, whereas the defendants' interpretation would require state utility commissions to obtain data relating to CLECs' use of UNEs in order to determine whether a UNE was connected to a switch or not. Such data is not generated for other regulatory purposes. Because the FCC's interpretation is not plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the language of the regulation, we must defer to the FCC's position and hold that the business line count includes UNE loops that are not connected to switches.