The FCC had scheduled a vote on rules involving the leasing of telephone networks for its monthly meeting on Thursday. The unusual decision by FCC Chairman Michael Powell to postpone the meeting pushes the vote back a week to Feb. 20.
The rules under review require the regional Bell companies -- BellSouth Corp., SBC Communications, Verizon Communications and Qwest Communications -- to provide parts of their local networks to competitors like AT&T and WorldCom at discount rates.
The Bells say the rules punish them unfairly by limiting what they can charge. Rivals worry that Powell wants to give the Bells what they want by undoing the 7-year-old rule intended to encourage competition.
Both sides have lobbied the FCC's five commissioners in recent weeks, but industry representatives and the public were required to stop communicating with the agency about the issue last Thursday in preparation for the scheduled vote. The new timetable allows a few more days of discussion.
FCC spokeswoman Robin Pence said a number of proposals relating to the rules review came into the commission on the last day available for talks and Powell wanted more time to go over them.
"We are now able to discuss the proposals with outside parties," she said.
Industry sources familiar with the process said three of the commissioners had been leaning away from Powell's position of wanting to end the leasing requirements; the three favored letting state regulators determine local phone rules.
Blair Levin, a former FCC official and now an analyst with the Legg Mason investment firm, said the delayed vote "is unusual for an item of this magnitude with so much attention focused on it."
Courts have rejected the FCC's last two attempts to rewrite the leasing rules.
Powell has said that if the FCC fails to meet a court-ordered Feb. 20 deadline to put a new policy in place there will be no rules and chaos "will be unleashed in the market."
Copyright 2003. Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
