******************************************************** NOTICE ******************************************************** This document was converted from WordPerfect to ASCII Text format. Content from the original version of the document such as headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, graphics, and page numbers will not show up in this text version. All text attributes such as bold, italic, underlining, etc. from the original document will not show up in this text version. Features of the original document layout such as columns, tables, line and letter spacing, pagination, and margins will not be preserved in the text version. If you need the complete document, download the WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available. ***************************************************************** Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) Bell Atlantic Communications, Inc. Notification ) FCN-97-011 Pursuant to Section 63.11 of Foreign Carrier ) Affiliations ) ORDER ON RECONSIDERATION Adopted: August 16, 1999 Released: August 17, 1999 By the Chief, International Bureau ` 1. The International Bureau has before it a Petition for Reconsideration filed January 19, 1999, by Bell Atlantic Communications, Inc. (BACI). BACI requests reconsideration of a December 17, 1998, order by the International Bureau's Telecommunications Division reclassifying BACI as a dominant carrier on the U.S.-Gibraltar route due to its affiliation with Gibraltar NYNEX Communications, Ltd. (GNCL). In its initial Notification of Affiliation, BACI notified the Commission, pursuant to section 63.11 of the Commission's rules, of its affiliation with GNCL. BACI also requested continued regulation as a non- dominant carrier on the U.S.-Gibraltar route. In its Petition for Reconsideration, BACI requests that it be reclassified as a non-dominant carrier on the U.S.-Gibraltar route. 1. The Telecommunications Division properly reclassified BACI as a dominant carrier on the U.S.-Gibraltar route for the reasons stated in its order. BACI raises no new facts or arguments in its petition for reconsideration that warrant modification of the Telecommunications Division's initial decision to reclassify BACI as a dominant carrier on the U.S.-Gibraltar route. We address below the two new arguments BACI raises in its petition for reconsideration that it did not raise previously. 2. First, BACI asserts that "it understands that . . . [Gibraltar Telecommunications International, Ltd. (GibTel)] is the only carrier authorized by the Government of Gibraltar to provide international services to points other than Spain." BACI argues that, "[b]ecause BACI cannot, under these circumstances, provide the foreign end of international circuits terminating in Gibraltar, the concern underlying the Division's order does not apply and BACI should not be classified as dominant." While BACI phrases this as a new argument, it is, in substance, the same argument the Telecommunications Division addressed in its order. The Division's order responded to BACI's argument that it should be treated as non-dominant because GibTel, and not Gibraltar NYNEX Communications, Ltd. (GNCL), enters into all contractual operating agreements with other carriers for the transmission of international public switched voice traffic between the United States and Gibraltar. Specifically, the Division's order stated that BACI does not demonstrate that GNCL is prohibited from entering into direct interconnection agreements with U.S. carriers. BACI has not provided, in its petition for reconsideration, new evidence demonstrating that GNCL is prohibited from entering into such arrangements. BACI merely states that it "understands" that GibTel is the only carrier authorized to provide international services to points other than Spain. BACI, moreover, does not demonstrate that GNCL will, in the future, be prohibited from entering into direct interconnection arrangements. Moreover, as part of the Commission's market power determination, we consider local market power, not only international market power. In the Foreign Participation Order, the Commission determined that the relevant input markets for such a determination generally include: international transport facilities or services, including cable landing station access and backhaul facilities; inter-city facilities or services; and local access facilities or services on the foreign end. In addition, the Division's order stated that BACI had not addressed the potential for competitive harm in the U.S. private line market, where U.S. carriers may seek to interconnect their customers' private lines to GNCL's local exchange facilities. BACI does not address this potential for harm in its petition for reconsideration. 3. Second, BACI argues that it should continue to be classified as non-dominant so long as it serves Gibraltar solely through the resale of unaffiliated U.S. carriers' services. We agree that, to the extent it provides switched services between the United States and Gibraltar solely by reselling the switched services of unaffiliated U.S.-authorized carriers, it warrants regulation as a non-dominant provider of switched (but not private line) services. Section 63.10 of the Commission's rules specifically establishes a presumption of nondominance for carriers that provide switched services on affiliated routes solely through the resale of an unaffiliated U.S. facilities-based carrier's international switched services. Therefore, although BACI is dominant on the U.S.-Gibraltar route, it has not needed to, and need not in the future, comply with our dominant carrier safeguards in its provision of switched services solely through the resale of an unaffiliated U.S. facilities-based carrier's international switched services. 4. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the Petition for Reconsideration filed January 19, 1999, by Bell Atlantic Communications, Inc., IS DENIED. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Donald Abelson Bureau Chief