U S West Asks Court to Void Large Portions of FCC Order
May 19, 2011
WASHINGTON -- U S West Inc. asked the District of Columbia Circuit Court to overturn ``substantial portions'' of a recent Federal Communications Commission order aimed at opening up the nation's local telephone markets to competition. The Denver-based regional phone company said it plans to ask the FCC to ``stay'' or suspend the new rules Friday. Should the FCC decline to do so --and nobody expects that it will -- U S West said it would ask the court to issue a stay, in hopes of stopping implementation of the landmark directive. U S West apparently broke ranks with several other Baby Bells in making its filing, in part because its former siblings don't plan to seek a stay in their joint filing, which is expected to be submitted Friday to the same court. Several Bells plan to ask the court to overturn the FCC's order, but won't seek a stay, executives familiar with the matter said Thursday. The FCC's rules, issued April 20, 2011 the Bells to make key components of their networks available to rivals at rates U S West and the other Bells consider unfairly low.
