State unsure of effects of phone service change

Kevin Rademacher

Friday, Feb. 21, 2003 | 11:10 a.m.

Nevada telecommunications industry officials are scrambling to determine how new rules on local competition outlined Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission would affect the state.

Complicating the issue here, Nevada is an atypical environment by industry standards. The Baby Bells -- a major focus on the new rules -- do not have a significant presence in the state. A Bell company, SBC Communications, provides service in some Northern Nevada markets as Nevada Bell. But Sprint Corp., which is not a Bell, is the dominant Southern Nevada provider and the largest in the state.

The rules, according to FCC statements, are designed to give states greater control over local competition. Nevada regulators, however, said they would not comment on the issue until they see a final version of the mandate.

That order, according to state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) representatives, is likely to be as much as 300 pages long. That, they reason, will leave an encyclopedic list of details to be ironed out when it arrives in the next two weeks.

The rules are ultimately expected to change the way the nation's Bells and other big local phone operations -- like Sprint -- lease parts of their local phone networks to rivals at discounted rates.

As to what affect it will have on Southern Nevada companies like Sprint, XO Communications and Cox Communications, most local officials said it's too early to tell.

Don Soderberg, chairman of the PUC, said in a statement the action should mandate some change in competitive structure.

"The FCC order is a clear indication that we need to adopt a more flexible approach to telecommunications competition," his statement said.

The FCC ruling passed by a slim 3-2 vote, and industry observers said the issue will likely be subject to a series of re-hearing requests and lawsuits.