Opinion ID: 168880
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Arbitration Element of Section 252

Text: 51 Qwest next contends that the range of negotiated agreements subject to filing is coextensive with the range of arbitrated agreements that must be filed pursuant to § 252. Because a CLEC may only compel arbitration of issues that the ILEC is under a duty to negotiate pursuant to § 251(c)(1), the interconnection agreements that result from arbitration necessarily include only the issues mandated by § 251(b) and (c). See, e.g., MCI Telecomms. Corp. v. BellSouth Telecomms., Inc., 298 F.3d 1269, 1274 (11th Cir.2002). Qwest argues that it would be strange to interpret interconnection agreement to cover a broader spectrum of issues when the agreement is generated by negotiation than when it is created by arbitration. 52 We disagree. It makes perfect sense that the commission may only compel an ILEC to arbitrate with respect to services that it is under a duty to provide. Arbitration is an option specifically designed to address situations where an ILEC is under a duty to provide a service but cannot reach an agreement with a CLEC; deadlock would violate the ILEC's statutory duty to provide the element, but allowing no alternative would permit the CLEC to force the ILEC to accept unfavorable terms in order to avoid violating its duty. When negotiations fail, arbitration must be broad enough to allow the ILEC to fulfill its statutory obligation. However, the state commissions cannot create a duty to provide services not required by the statute, so their arbitration power cannot extend beyond the four corners of § 251. 53 Negotiation, on the other hand, has no such constraints. A negotiated agreement may cover any number of issues, some required by § 251 and others not. Negotiated agreements may include more issues than arbitrated agreements, but both can still be considered interconnection agreements under § 252. Nothing in the statute suggests that the term interconnection agreement covers a field precisely as broad as the arbitration option and no more so. The fact that arbitrated agreements are confined to § 251 duties in no way limits the scope of negotiated agreements that are subject to filing under § 252. 54