Review of the Section 251 Unbundling Obligations of Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers; Implementation of the Local Competition Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996; Deployment of Wireline Services Offering Advanced Telecommunications Capability

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) adopts rules which establish a new standard for determining the existence of impairment under section 251(d)(2) of the Act, sets forth a new list of unbundled network elements (UNEs), and creates a specifically defined role for the states in the unbundling inquiry. The new interpretation of the "impair" standard in section 251(d)(2) finds a requesting carrier to be impaired when lack of access to a facility in the incumbent LEC's network poses a barrier or barriers to entry, including operational and economic barriers, that are likely to make entry into a market uneconomic. The Commission reaffirms that the "at a minimum" language of section 251(d)(2) permits the Commission to take into account factors other than the "impair" and "necessary" standards, particularly important goals of the 1996 Act, when making unbundling determinations. The Commission applies its unbundling analysis to individual elements in a more granular manner than before. Under this more granular approach, the Commission determines whether impairment varies by geographic location, customer class, and service, including a consideration of the type and capacity of the facilities to be used.