Implementation of the Non-Accounting Safeguards of Sections 271 and 272 of the Communications Act of 1934, as Amended; and Regulatory Treatment of LEC Provision of Interexchange Services Originating in the LEC's Local Exchange Area

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The Commission is issuing this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on proposed regulations to implement, and, where necessary, to clarify the non-accounting separate affiliate and nondiscrimination safeguards prescribed by Congress in section 272 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Congress enacted these safeguards to help prevent Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) from improperly using their market power in the local telephone market to gain an unfair advantage over their rivals in the in-region interLATA service markets and certain other businesses, such as the manufacturing of telecommunications equipment. These safeguards are intended to encourage the development of robust competition in all telecommunications markets. The Commission also seeks comment on whether to relax the dominant carrier classification that currently applies to the (BOCs) provision of in-region, interstate, domestic interLATA services, as well as whether it should modify its existing rules for regulating independent local exchange carriers' (LECs) provision of interstate, interexchange services in areas where those LECs provide local telephone service. The Commission also considers whether to app