Cincinnati Bell Telephone Co. v. Public Utilities Commission

In 1996, the United States Congress sought to provide for local market competition in the telecommunications industry with the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (the “1996 Act”). The 1996 Act allows for new competitive local exchange carriers (“CLECs”) to enter local telephone markets by several mechanisms. One mechanism involves the CLEC’s access to parts of the network of an incumbent local exchange carrier (“ILEC”) as unbundled network elements (“UNEs”) and provision of local telephone services over those elements. By using this entry method, the CLEC can use its own facilities…