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) modifies certain of the unbundling obligations associated with fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) architectures pursuant to section 251 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (1996 Act). Specifically, the Commission concludes that FTTC loops will be subject to the same, limited unbundling obligations governing fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) loops. The Commission further clarifies that incumbent LECs need not build time division multiplexing (TDM) capability into new packet-based networks or into existing packet-based networks that never had TDM capability. In addition, the Order also clarifies that where an incumbent LEC has deployed new FTTH or FTTC loops using packet-based equipment, and they nevertheless need to hand off a signal to some customers in TDM format in order to be compatible with an end user's customer premises equipment, this "TDM handoff" does not change the scope of unbundling relief.