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 Federal  Communications  Commission  FCC  03-  243 
 SEPARATE  STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  JONATHAN  S.  ADELSTEIN 


 Re:  Joint  Application  by  SBC  Communications  Inc.,  Illinois  Bell  Telephone  Company,  Indiana  Bell  Telephone  Company  Incorporated,  the  Ohio  bell  Telephone  Company,  Wisconsin  Bell,  Inc. 
 and  Southwestern  Bell  Communications  Services  Inc.  for  Authorization  to  Provide  In-  Region,  InterLATA  Services  in  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio  and  Wisconsin 


 Today,  we  grant  SBC  authority  to  provide  in-  region,  interLATA  service  originating  in  the  states  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio  and  Wisconsin.  With  this  achievement,  SBC  has  now  received 
 authorization  to  provide  long  distance  services  throughout  its  entire  region.  I  congratulate  SBC  for  opening  its  operations  to  competition  and  also  extend  my  appreciation  to  my  colleagues  at 
 the  Illinois  Commerce  Commission,  the  Indiana  Regulatory  Utility  Commission,  the  Ohio  Public  Utilities  Commission  and  the  Wisconsin  Public  Service  Commission.  I  would  also  like  to  thank 
 the  Wireline  Competition  Bureau  for  its  hard  work  and  guidance  in  moving  this  item  to  a  successful  resolution. 


 The  satisfaction  of  today’s  achievement  comes  with  a  continuing  commitment  to  keep  local  markets  open  to  competition.  Indeed,  Congress  has  made  clear  through  Section  271(  d)(  6)  that 
 the  market-  opening  provisions  of  Section  271  are  an  on-  going  obligation.  To  that  end,  I  shared  concerns  raised  by  commenters  during  the  course  of  the  Michigan  Section  271  proceeding  about 
 SBC’s  provision  of  wholesale  billing  to  its  competitive  LEC  customers  and  line  splitting,  a  method  by  which  competitive  carriers  may  offer  both  voice  and  DSL  services  over  the  same 
 local  loop.  I  based  my  support  for  the  Michigan  Section  271  Order  in  part  on  the  commitment  of  SBC  and  my  state  commission  colleagues  to  continue  to  develop  and  enhance  the  billing  and  line 
 splitting  processes.  Thus,  I  was  particularly  pleased  to  see  that  the  Michigan  Public  Service  Commission  announced  on  September  30,  2003  that  they  will  restart  their  line  sharing/  line 
 splitting  collaborative  process.  The  Order  that  we  adopt  today  addresses  these  issues  in  a  similar  manner  and  so  I  once  again  encourage  my  state  commission  colleagues  in  the  Ameritech  region 
 to  continue  their  diligent  efforts  to  ensure  that  Congress’  high  standard  continues  to  be  met. 
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