Bell Atlantic-Maryland Inc. filed suit against the Maryland Public Service Commission late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, seeking reversal of a PSC decision that compels the company to make it easier for competitors to use its network.
Generally, companies that seek to compete with Bell Atlantic to provide local telephone service in Maryland must buy access to Bell Atlantic's network, since building a comparable network from scratch would be prohibitively expensive.
On Nov. 2, the PSC ordered Bell Atlantic to make access easier and cheaper by providing the switches, wires and other elements of its network to its rivals in customized bundles.
Bell Atlantic would prefer that rival phone companies bundle those network elements themselves.
After the PSC decision was released, Bell Atlantic promised to take the matter to court. The company said federal law bars the PSC from requiring it to combine network elements.
"As far as we're concerned, this is a situation where the commission has decided it's not going to be bound by the law," said Sherry Bellamy, president and chief executive officer of Bell Atlantic-Maryland.
She said the PSC ruling "creates a situation where there's no reason for any other [local telephone service] company to ever invest in Maryland.
"We had considered filing for a reconsideration before the commission, but concluded that would be a waste of our time," Bellamy said.
Candi Humphrey, a spokeswoman for rival AT&T; Corp., said her company supports the PSC ruling. AT&T; and other large long-distance firms have long sought to grab bigger shares of the local telephone market, and they believe requiring Bell Atlantic to bundle its network elements is a way to bring more competition to the industry.
"The commission made the right decision for the consumer and for competition," Humphrey said. Asked if AT&T; might assist the PSC in defending against Bell Atlantic's suit, she said, "We'll have to take a look at this [lawsuit] and see if there's a role there for AT&T.;"
Pub Date: 12/03/98