III. Pacific Compliance With § 271(c)(1)(A): Presence of Facilities-Based Competition

A Bell Operating Company (BOC) seeking FCC approval to provide in-region inter local access and transport area (LATA) services must demonstrate that it satisfies the requirements of either § 271(c)(1)(A) (Track A) or § 271(c)(1)(B) (Track B).¹⁰ Track A requires the BOC to show the presence of a facilities-based competitor; while Track B requires that it make a showing that no competitor has sought access or interconnection. Pacific seeks FCC approval to enter the California interLATA market under Track A.

The CPUC has approved, pursuant to § 252 of TA96, 178¹¹ binding interconnection agreements between Pacific and unaffiliated competing providers of telephone exchange service. These agreements require Pacific to provide "access and interconnection to its network facilities for the network facilities of one or more unaffiliated competing providers to residential and business subscribers."¹² In 1998, CPUC staff tabulated business and residence data for six facilities-based competitors¹³ and found they served about 60,000 access lines in California. Staff concluded that Pacific had met the requirements for providing service to a facilities-based competitor. (D.98-12-069, mimeo. at 69.)

In its July 1999 compliance filing, Pacific asserted that based on the number of resold lines and facilities-based E911 listings, CLECs had won over 819,000 access lines in its California service areas. (Pacific Brief at 4; Curtis L. Hopfinger (Hopfinger) Affidavit (Aff.) ¶ 14 and Attachment A.) In 2001, Pacific identified 47 California facilities-based carriers providing service: forty-one provide local voice service, while the remaining facilities-based carriers appear to provide data or Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) services that, at their option, may be deployed for voice grade service. (David R. Tebeau (Tebeau) Aff. ¶ 12.) Based on its April 2001 E911 database, Pacific estimates that CLECs serve approximately 1,726,048 lines on facilities-based connections. (Id. ¶ 6.)

We concur with staff's earlier assessment, and find that Pacific has met the requirements for providing service to a facilities-based competitor. Thus, we conclude that Pacific satisfies the § 271(c)(1)(A) requirement.

¹⁰ 47 U.S.C. § 271(a).

¹¹ Includes facilities-based and resale carriers as of July 15, 2002.

¹² 47 U.S.C. § 271(c)(1)(A).

¹³ Covad Communications Company (Covad), XO, TCG [AT&T], Brooks Fiber, Cox, and MCI WorldCom.