A Federal Appeals Court in St Louis has upset local telecoms deregulation by temporarily suspending the Federal Communications Commission’s decree on rules for interconnection, which was to have gone into effect on Monday. The stay is at present only until arguments have been heard in Kansas City, Missouri tomorrow, and a final decision on whether to grant a permanent stay is expected within a few days after that. The St Louis court will hear arguments in January from parties appealing the Commission’s order. The temporary stay was granted in response to a request by GTE Corp, which had complained that the order would cause undue hardship at GTE and other local carriers. GTE says it looks forward to explaining to the court why the flawed order should be stayed for the entirety of the appeal process, which could take a year or more to complete, and in the meantime sideline deregulation.
