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From: covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert  09-Jul-1990 1654)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: International Calls Using Credit Card and Equal Access
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Date: 9 Jul 90 20:54:32 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 471, Message 10 of 10


 
 From: Greg Monti
 Date:  9 July 1990
 Subject: Re: International Calls Using Credit Card and Equal Access
 

(Regarding what kind of carrier, inter-LATA or intra-LATA, carries
international toll calls.  I had stated that international calls were
inter-LATA): PCI@cup.portal.com writes:
 
> This is not quite accurate.  LEC's are not allowed to provide
> inter-LATA service.  They are allowed to provide intra-LATA and
> International service.
> This situation in very familiar to the carriers that serve the Hawaii
> market.  One of the largest IRC's (International Record Carriers) in
> the region is GTE Hawaiian Telephone (HawTel) the local LEC...
> ...we find our LEC (which has a monopoly for local
> service) ... competing with us.

You are right, I wasn't clear enough.  The Modified Final Judgment
which governed the breakup of AT&T affected (and still affects) only
AT&T and the *Bell* Operating Companies (BOCs) which were once
*majority*-held by AT&T.  Technically speaking, the concept of a LATA
applies only to *BOC*s.  "Independent" LECs can either be "associated
with" a nearby BOC's LATA or can be in their own "area" which acts
like a LATA, like the "Rochester Area" referred to in New York
Telephone directories.

There are states that have no BOCs operating anywhere within them.
Alaska and Hawaii are two of them (the only two?).  GTE, since it is
not a BOC, but is an "independent" does not have the same
line-of-business restrictions on it that the MFJ has over a BOC.
That's why companies like GTE can do international service, why Centel
can run cable TV service (which broadcasters and cable operators are
trying to keep BOCs out of) and why Contel can run a competitive
domestic satellite data company (Contel ASC).

I believe that GTE is subject to a different (non-MFJ) consent decree
which *does* require it to offer equal access, even where its one-time
long distance company (Sprint) was one of the equal competitors.  So
the same restrictions don't apply to BOCs and independents.


Greg Monti, Arlington, Virginia; work +1 202 822-2633