Opinion ID: 185358
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Interstate Access Services

Text: 4 Local telephone service is provided by local exchange carriers. 47 U.S.C. S 153(26). Typically, one LEC is the dominant, or incumbent, service provider in each local area. Until relatively recently, the incumbent LECs had virtual monopolies over the provision of local phone service in their territories. 5 Long distance service--that is, service between local access and transport areas (LATAs) or InterLATA service--is, for the most part, provided by interexchange carriers (IXCs), such as petitioners WorldCom and AT&T. Long distance providers are reliant upon LECs to reach their customers. When a customer makes a long distance call, the IXC must have access to the local networks at both the originating and receiving end of the call in order to complete the connection. Generally, the LEC connects the call from the caller to a switch or end office, which is in turn connected to a serving wire center (SWC), which is itself connected to an interconnection point, or point of presence (POP), with the long distance carrier. This same series of connections will also be made at the receiving end of the phone call--from POP to SWC to switch to call recipient. LECs charge the IXCs for providing this access service in accordance with 47 C.F.R. Part 69. IXCs then bill customers directly for long distance calls. 6 There are two types of access service: switched access and special access. Switched access service requires the creation of a connection between the caller and the long distance company on a call-by-call basis. This entails (1) a connection between the caller and a local LEC switch, (2) a connection from the LEC switch to the SWC (interoffice transport), and (3) an entrance facility which connects the SWC and the long distance company's POP. Switched access can either be dedicated to a particular IXC (dedicated transport or direct trunked transport) or shared among IXCs. Special access service, on the other hand, uses dedicated lines between the customer and the IXC's local POP. Switched access is used by most residential customers. Most users of special access services are companies with high call volumes. 7 For quite some time incumbent LECs dominated access service markets. In recent years, however, other companies have begun to enter these markets. Market entrants typically provide a portion of full access service, such as from the IXC POP to the SWC, in any given market. This development was facilitated by changes in FCC regulations. Beginning in 1992, the FCC required incumbent LECs to permit competitors to collocate their equipment at LEC wire centers and connect directly to the LEC networks as a means of spurring additional competition in access service. See Expanded Interconnection with Local Tel. Co. Facilities, 7 F.C.C.R. 7369, p P1-3, 39, reconsidered 8 F.C.C.R. 127 (1992), vacated in part and remanded in part, Bell Atl. Tel. Cos. v. FCC, 24 F.3d 1441 (D.C. Cir. 1994). Now, the FCC believes, there may be sufficient competition for access services to justify deregulatory measures.