At&T Corporation v. Iowa Utilities Board

525 U.S. 366 (1999)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed. The FCC issued its First Report and Order six months later implementing the local competition provisions of the Act. Rule 319 set forth a minimum number of network elements the incumbent carriers must make available to requesting carriers. The local exchange carriers (LECs) complained that the FCC has virtually ignored the Act’s requirement that it consider whether access to proprietary elements would impair an entrant’s ability to provide local service or that even such access was necessary. What the core of the complaint stated was that there was no requirement to impose a facility ownership on carriers who sought to lease network elements and this allowed competitors to provide local phone service relying solely on an incumbent’s network.