[ -=coretel=- ]

PRES. TALKS, REP. LISTENS

August 9, 2001
By BOB KEAVENEY, Daily Record Business Writer

With his company locked in a bloody battle against a behemoth rival and hoping for a reversal of a crucial federal regulatory decision, you might think Bret Mingo would pounce on the opportunity presented to him yesterday: a lengthy meeting with a rising congressional star.

Bret Mingo, the president of Core Communications, which competes with Verizon, wanted Rep. Robert Ehrlich to hear his side of the telecommunications story.

But the telecommunications executive happily picked up the tab on Rep. Robert Ehrlich's oatmeal with low-fat milk without giving him the hard sell. Indeed, Mingo, the boyish-looking president of Annapolis-based Core Communications Inc., offered only a few casual observations on the state of his tattered industry over breakfast yesterday at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel, and during a preceding tour of the company s Baltimore data center.

Meanwhile, Ehrlich, who is popular with his fellow House Republicans and is often mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate, offered a sympathetic ear and reiterated his views opposing a controversial bill sought by Verizon and other regional phone giants. But he suggested no solutions to what ails the likes of Core.

I'd prefer at this point in time that there not be a legislative solution, Ehrlich said. Pressed on how he might accelerate competition in the local telecommunications market, he said: Let the regulators interpret the [law] and let the free market decide.

That was just fine with Mingo, despite the fact his company has clashed repeatedly with the chief telecommunications regulator, the Federal Communications Commission, and Ehrlich praised FCC Chairman Michael Powell's intellect yesterday. After breakfast, Mingo said he was not trying to lobby Ehrlich; he just wanted the congressman to know who he is.

There's nothing special to ask of him, except to state our views, Mingo said. It's really an early-round discussion.

Additional Resources:

"Startup telecom struggles to survive in brave new marketplace"; August TechLink

"Stay denied; case put on fast-track"; June 18, 2001

"FCC challenged; Core fears repercussions of order"; June 5, 2001

Ehrlich home page

Core a so-called competitive local exchange carrier [CLEC] created by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which forces the former Baby Bells, such as Verizon, to allow competitors to lease their phone lines is suing Verizon, arguing the larger company delayed for four months connecting Core to its lines in Maryland. In addition, Core is supporting an appeal pending in federal court of a decision earlier this year by the FCC, which severely limits the amount telecoms can be paid for linking each other s calls to the Internet.

The matter is critical to Core, which gets a big chunk of its revenue via payments from Verizon for connecting the larger company s callers to Core's Internet Service Provider clients.

Thanks to a ruling by state regulators that bars Verizon from implementing the order unilaterally in Maryland, Core has not had to close any of its four Maryland data centers, as it thought it might. But without similar rulings in New York and Pennsylvania, where Core was planning to expand this summer, it has not been able to begin service.

Ehrlich yesterday offered sympathy but made no promises. He opposes the Tauzin-Dingell legislation, named for its co-sponsors, that would allow former Bells to offer long-distance services without first demonstrating their cooperation with competitors. And he said Verizon, while not a bad company, is just wrong when it comes to most basic disputes with small companies over competitiveness.

But while telling Mingo to hang in there, the congressman agreed that his view on such disputes is that they are a natural consequence of the introduction of new competition to a previously monopolistic market and that, in time, they will work themselves out without congressional action.

And if these guys can't compete, he said, gesturing across his oatmeal to Mingo, then so be it.