Verizon North Inc. v. Strand

The Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 (the "1996 Act" or the "Act"), Pub. L. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56 (1996) (codified in various sections of 47 U.S.C.) fundamentally restructured local telephone markets by ending the era of state-granted telecommunications monopolies and by encouraging competition among providers of local telephone service. AT&T Corp. v. Iowa Utils. Bd., 525 U.S. 366, 371 (1996). To reach this objective, the 1996 Act required incumbent telecommunications carriers to share their networks with competitors in various ways. Nestled within the Acts local competition provisions is a detailed scheme for the creation of interconnection agreements that serve as the foundation for increased competition between Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers ("incumbents") and Competitive Local Exchange Carriers ("competitors"). See 47 U.S.C. §§251, 252. The Acts regulatory scheme explicitly foresees but also clearly circumscribes the participation of state regulatory entities in the commencement and enforcement of interconnection agreements. It is within this context that we consider the extent to which a state regulatory commission can encourage competitors to enter the market independent of the Acts provisions governing interconnection agreements.