I’ve worked with telecom professionals for over 20 years – veterans and novices alike – and take it from me, I guarantee there’s no better way to quickly get up-to-speed on access and interconnection. No text book… no website… no courses will, in just 1 ½ days, give you a better grounding in the fundamentals and on key policy issues affecting access and interconnection! 
Since 1934, the Communications Act has served as the bedrock for communications regulation. And today it remains the underpinning for how access services are priced and regulated, making a solid understanding of the Act essential. In this information-packed session, Andy drills down to give you the critical parts of the Act – from common carrier regulation and tariffs to the Code of Federal Regulation and key sections of the Act that directly influence the provision and pricing of access services.
Here’s your opportunity to build your access knowledge base as Andy walks you through the key elements of switched and special access services, including building blocks like end office and direct trunk and tandem switched transport services, entrance facilities, multiplexing and channel termination. You’ll end this session with a firm grasp of how access services are provisioned and billed.
Today, access charges remain one of the most stringently regulated communications services… and since their inception in 1984, one of the most contentious issues in telecom. Andy breaks down the reasons for you in this enlightening session as he details the distinctions between regulated and non-regulated services, explains how separations are determined, shows you how rate-of-return regulation works, and reveals why price caps were instituted. And along the way he’ll tell how – despite best intentions – regulation can often have unintended consequences.
Incumbent local exchange carriers were granted pricing flexibility in 1999, as the FCC sought to lessen the impact on ILECs of competition in the access market from CLECs. And, today ILECs operate under pricing flexibility rules in just about all major urban areas. At the end of this session, you’ll understand the rationale for pricing flexibility, how the two-phased implementation works in each metropolitan statistical area (MSA), and the real impact pricing flexibility has had on access rates (you’ll be surprised at the answer!).
Andy wraps up the day with a penetrating look at how the industry has tried to alter access charge rules with innovative plans like the Coalition for Affordable Local and Long Distance Service (CALLS) and the Multi-Association Group (MAG) plan… both of which are in place now. Then he explains why there are different rules, regulations and rates governing CLEC access services. Lastly, you’ll hear all of the arguments that surround Universal Service – from how it’s calculated and who contributes to the fund to how it is distributed and, most importantly, why and how it is likely to be changed
Enacted more than 10 years ago, the Telecom Act’s chief provision was the opening of local markets to real, sustained and ubiquitous competition – and that required both a technical solution for establishing competitive offerings and a mechanism to compensate carriers for traffic traveling between and among each other. The technical solutions and the billing solution, reciprocal compensation, are with us still today and are as contentious as access changes. In this fast-moving session, Andy gives you the history and key provisions of the Act, including the service delivery methods – resale, UNEs and private facilities available to CLECS. Then he explains how reciprocal compensation works, why many industry insiders find it flawed and explains how it can be fixed.
Operating successfully in local markets demands two things: 1) sound economics; and 2) solid technology. That puts a premium on having in place interconnection agreements that reflect the scope and nature of your network traffic and that include UNE pricing that offers reasonable operating margins. Andy concludes the conference with a hard look at key aspects of interconnection and the shaky future of unbundled network elements.