Urges Agency To Force Bellsouth To Implement Simple 1+
Dialing For Local Toll Calls
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 21, 1998 -
MCI WorldCom is today urging the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA)
to reject a BellSouth amendment to its IntraLATA Toll Dialing
Implementation Plan that would indefinitely deny its customers
statewide the freedom of choice and simplicity of 1+ equal access
dialing for local toll calls. MCI WorldCom further calls on the TRA
to order BellSouth to make 1+ dialing and the benefits of local toll
competition available to its customers statewide, no later than Feb.
8, 1999.
Regulators in Florida, Georgia and Kentucky have all ordered
BellSouth to provide 1+ dialing in their states, after recognizing
that customers deserve the ability to choose a provider other than
BellSouth to carry their city-to-city local toll calls - without
being forced to dial cumbersome seven-digit access codes.
If a caller currently wants MCI WorldCom to carry a call from
Nashville-to-Clarksville or Memphis-to-Jackson, they must dial
10+10+222+1+Phone Number. Simply dialing the desired number now sends
these calls to BellSouth, regardless of what carrier the caller
actually prefers. By implementing equal access dialing, the TRA will
eliminate inconvenient access codes and allow every customer to
automatically route their local toll calls to their carrier of
choice, by simply dialing 1+Phone Number.
In states across the country where full competition has been
introduced with 1+ dialing, local toll calling rates have
historically declined.
"This issue is all about delivering customer choice,
convenience and the benefits of local toll competition to all
Tennessee phone customers - as mandated by law," said C.K.
"Chip" Casteel, Jr., regional executive for MCI WorldCom
Public Policy.
MCI is asking the TRA to exercise its authority to force BellSouth
to provide 1+ dialing in Tennessee no later than Feb. 8, 1999 - the
same date cited by the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the implementation of 1+
dialing for local toll calls nationwide.
"BellSouth claims that it shouldn't have to provide
customer choice and equal access dialing until it is allowed to
provide long distance service in Tennessee," said Casteel.
"But what BellSouth doesn't say is that it already has the
opportunity to enter the long distance market. All it has to do is
meet the requirements of the Telecommunications Act. Instead,
BellSouth has chosen to protect its local monopoly, including local
toll calls."
Without action by the TRA, BellSouth would actually be rewarded
for preserving its monopoly control of local phone service in
Tennessee. MCI WorldCom asks the TRA to continue acting in the best
interests of the citizens it serves and take a proconsumer,
procompetitive stance on this issue. Approval of MCI WorldCom's
request for February 1999 implementation of 1+ dialing is the first
step toward granting consumers and businesses the freedom of choice
they deserve.
MCI WorldCom is a global telecommunications company with revenue
of more than $30 billion and established operations in over 65
countries encompassing the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific
regions. MCI WorldCom is a premier provider of facilities-based and
fully integrated local, long distance, international and Internet
services. MCI WorldCom's global networks, including its
state-of-the-art pan-European network and transoceanic cable systems,
provide end-to-end high-capacity connectivity to more than 35,000
buildings worldwide. For more information on MCI MCI WorldCom, visit
the World Wide Web at
http://www.mciworldcom.com
.
