II. Background
In Decision (D.) 99-11-050 in Rulemaking (R.) 93-04-003/Investigation (I.) 93-04-002, the Open Access and Network Architecture Development (OANAD) proceeding, the Commission invited carriers with interconnection agreements with Pacific to annually nominate UNEs for consideration by the Commission in a proceeding to review the costs of up to two UNEs. The Commission set a threshold in the decision requiring that a particular UNE must have experienced a cost change (up or down) of at least 20% to be eligible for nomination. The decision required that a party nominating a UNE for review must include a summary of evidence demonstrating a cost change of at least 20% from the costs approved in D.98-02-106.
In February 2001, the Commission received nominations for several UNEs from which two were selected for reexamination in 2001, namely unbundled loops and unbundled switching. In a June 2001 ruling and scoping memo, the Assigned Commissioner and ALJ determined that unbundled loops and unbundled switching would be reviewed in the 2001 UNE Reexamination. In September 2001, the Assigned ALJ and Assigned Commissioner suspended the schedule for the 2001 UNE Reexamination to consider a motion for interim UNE rates for basic 2-wire loops and unbundled switching filed by AT&T Communications of California and WorldCom Inc. (hereinafter "Joint Applicants"). On May 16, 2002, the Commission issued D.02-05-042 granting the Joint Applicants' motion for interim relief, in part, and adopting interim discounts to unbundled loop and switching rates for Pacific Bell Telephone Company (Pacific).
In late February and early March 2002, the Commission received four applications nominating specific UNEs for the 2002 UNE Reexamination proceeding. Specifically, the nominations received are as follows:
· A.02-02-031, filed by The Telephone Connection Local Services, LLC (Telephone Connection), requesting reexamination of the DS-3 entrance facility without equipment.
· A.02-02-032, filed by AT&T Communications of California, Inc. and WorldCom, Inc. (collectively "Joint Applicants"), requesting reexamination of Interoffice Transmission Facilities ("transport") and Signaling Networks and Call-Related Databases ("signaling").
· A.02-02-034, filed by Pacific Bell Telephone Company (Pacific), requesting reexamination of the Expanded Interconnection Service Cross-Connect (EISCC).
· A.02-03-002, filed by XO California, Inc. (XO), requesting reexamination of DS-1 and DS-3 loops. 2
Pacific, The Utility Reform Network (TURN), Joint Applicants, and XO filed comments on these nominations, and Pacific filed reply comments. A prehearing conference (PHC) was held on June 3, 2002, to discuss consolidation of the 2001 and 2002 UNE Reexaminations and other scoping matters for the two cases.
2 The ALJ clarified in her 5/21/02 ruling in this docket that DS-1 loops are already included in the final phase of the 2001 UNE Reexamination, so we will limit our discussion of XO's nomination to the DS-3 loop.
