AN EVENT ANALYSIS STUDY of the ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS of the FCC's UNE DECISION: BACKDROP for CURRENT NETWORK SHARING PROPOSALS
AN EVENT ANALYSIS STUDY OF THE ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE FCC's UNE DECISION: BACKDROP FOR CURRENT NETWORK SHARING PROPOSALS Jeffrey A. Eisenach' Paul S. Lowengrub James C. Miller III I. INTRODUCTION On February 20, 2003, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC" or "Commission") voted to approve new unbundled network element ("UNE") rules modifying the terms under which incumbent telephone companies must resell their network facilities to competitors.' The previous UNE rules were widely criticized-and had been invalidated by the courts-for being too broad 1 Jeffrey A. Eisenach, Chairman and Managing Partner, Empiris LLC; Paul S. Lowen- grub, PhD., Independent Consultant; and James C. Miller III, Senior Advisor, Husch Blackwell Sanders, LLP. The authors wish to express their gratitude to Timothy Ebner and Jean Schieman for their capable assistance with this study. Press Release, Fed. Commc'ns Comm'n, FCC Adopts New Rules for Network Un- bundling Obligations of Incumbent Local Phone Carriers 1 (Feb. 20, 2003) [hereinafter UNE Press Release]. The final order, which explains in detail the Commission's action, was issued on August 21, 2003. In re Review of the Section 251 Unbundling Obligations of Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers; Implementation of the Local Competition Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996; Deployment of Wireline Services Offering Ad- vanced Telecommunications Capability, Report and Order on Remand and FurtherNotice of Proposed Rulemaking, 18 F.C.C.R. 16,984, 4 (Feb. 20, 2003). [hereinafter Triennial Review Remand Order]. In 1999 in response to a Supreme Court decision, the Commission adopted a process to reevaluate section 251's unbundling obligations every three years, known as the triennial review process.
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