Opinion ID: 698322
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Part 69/ONA Proceedings

Text: 11 Basic Serving Arrangements (BSAs) are the fundamental tariffed switching and transmission services that an ESP must obtain to communicate with its customers through the BOC network. Amendments of Part 69 of the Commission's Rules Relating to the Creation of Access Charge Subelements for Open Network Architecture, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, CC Docket No. 89-79, 4 FCC Rcd 3983 (1989) (ONA NPRM ). In the BOC ONA Order, 4 FCC Rcd at 14, the Commission decided that [b]ecause persons who provide interstate enhanced services should have the ability to obtain BSEs and BSAs through federal tariffs, we conclude that the BOCs should offer all interstate BSEs in the federal access tariffs to the degree technically possible. The Commission went on to announce that it intended to initiate a separate rulemaking to amend Part 69 of [its] rules to accommodate such federally-tariffed BSEs and BSAs. Id. In May 1989 the Commission accordingly released a notice of proposed rulemaking to consider how best to integrate [its ONA] tariffing policies into the existing federal access charge rules. ONA NPRM, 4 FCC Rcd at 3983. As expected, the ONA NPRM addressed almost exclusively questions concerning the changes necessary in order to enable the BOCs to file federal access tariffs for the BSAs and BSEs that they are required to provide to ESPs. In a footnote to the Background section of the NPRM, however, the FCC stated that [u]nder the unbundling we propose, bundled Feature Groups ... such as a 'bundled' form of [Feature Group D] including [Automatic Number Identification] capability would no longer be available. Id. at 3991 n. 9. This footnote was appended at a point in the text given over to explaining, by way of example, which services used by ESPs are BSAs and which are BSEs. Id. at 3983. In the final rule, the FCC ordered the BOCs to abolish the bundled feature group tariffs that they had been offering to IXCs under the aegis of the Access Order. Amendments of Part 69 of the Commission's Rules Relating to the Creation of Access Charge Subelements for Open Network Architecture, Report and Order, CC Docket No. 89-79, 6 FCC Rcd 4524, 4528 (1991) (Part 69 Order ). 12 MCI and other IXCs petitioned the Commission to reconsider this action, which effectively required the IXCs to purchase access under the ONA rules that had been established for ESPs. The IXCs argued that the BOCs should be required to maintain the feature group offerings that they had developed for the IXCs alongside the unbundled BSAs and BSEs that they were required to develop for ESPs. The IXCs asserted, inter alia, that the elimination of feature groups would impose upon them significant conversion costs without any corresponding benefits. 13 Upon reconsideration, the FCC relented to the extent that it decided to allow, but not to require, the BOCs to continue to offer to the IXCs their existing feature groups in addition to the unbundled service offerings. Amendments of Part 69 of the Commission's Rules Relating to the Creation of Access Charge Subelements for Open Network Architecture, Memorandum Opinion & Order on Reconsideration, CC Docket No. 89-79, 8 FCC Rcd 3114, 3115-17 (1993) (Part 69 Reconsideration Order). MCI and supporting intervenors now petition the court to vacate that decision and to remand the matter to the Commission for further consideration.