[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 6, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S998]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     INTRALATA TOLL DIALING PARITY

 Mr. BREAUX. Mr. President, when the Senate debated S. 652, 
Senator Leahy from Vermont and I proposed an important provision 
concerning the obligation of the Bell Operating Companies to provide 
dialing parity for intraLATA toll calls. That provision, which was 
accepted by the Senate, balanced the needs of competitors to have 
access to 1+dialing capabilities for intraLATA toll calls and the Bell 
Companies' need to have the opportunity to compete fairly for all long 
distance traffic.
  As Senator Leahy has already indicated, the conferees adopted that 
requirement. The Bell Operating Companies' obligations for providing 
dialing parity for intraLATA toll calls are contained in section 
271(e)(2). It is important to recognize that the provisions in section 
251(c)(3) do not impose any additional obligation to provide intraLATA 
toll dialing parity on the Bell Operating Companies. Section 251(c)(3) 
applies to BOCs only after they have been authorized to provide 
interLATA authority in a State.

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