GFB/JJJ/jva 9/15/2004

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

AT&T Communications of California, Inc. (U 5002 C), TCG Los Angeles, Inc. (U 5462 C), TCG San Diego (U 5389 C) and TCG San Francisco (U 5454C), Complainants, vs. Verizon California Inc. (U 1002 C), Defendant.

Case 04-08-026 (Filed August 19, 2004)

ASSIGNED COMMISSIONER AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE'S RULING ON AT&T'S EMERGENCY MOTION FOR ORDER
MAINTAINING THE STATUS QUO PENDING
RESOLUTION OF THE COMPLAINT

I. Summary

This ruling grants the August 19, 2004 emergency motion of complainants (collectively AT&T¹) for an order maintaining the status quo pending resolution of the complaint. The ruling is predicated on contractual interpretation of two interconnection agreements between the parties to this action. It restrains Verizon California Inc. (Verizon) from eliminating the ability of AT&T to purchase unbundled Local Switching and/or Common Transport network elements, alone and in combination with other network elements, until AT&T's complaint is resolved, or until further order of the Commission or the undersigned. To maintain a level playing field and treat Verizon's interconnection agreements with all similarly situated California competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) in the same way, we maintain the status quo as follows. We extend this restraint to Verizon's performance under its California interconnection agreements with substantially similar provisions concerning Verizon's obligation of providing the functionality of access to the Local Switching and Common Transport network elements. This ruling will be placed before the Commission at its next meeting, where the full Commission will have the opportunity to consider it.

This ruling does not prohibit Verizon from deploying its new packet switches. Nor does it require Verizon to unbundle and provide the advance services capabilities of its packet switches to AT&T. This ruling merely acquiesces in AT&T's request to enforce existing interconnection agreements and maintain the status quo. It requires Verizon to continue to provide AT&T access to unbundled Local Switch and Common transport elements under the terms of the agreements, regardless of what type of hardware Verizon uses to do so. It does so because the agreements address the functionality, and not the specific hardware of the switch providing the Local Switch and Common Transport elements.

¹ Complainants are AT&T Communications of California, Inc, TCG Los Angeles, Inc., TCG San Diego, and TCG San Francisco.