Phone Firms Are Told to Work on Lease Deal

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell ordered the nation’s four Baby Bells and their biggest rivals to spend the Memorial Day weekend negotiating agreements to lease Bell networks and gear.

Upset with a stalemate over the last two months, Powell and Commissioner Kevin J. Martin are overseeing talks aimed at settling a decade of animosity and botched federal rules over competition and wholesale rates, say sources inside and outside the FCC.

The action enraged smaller competitors, which argue that they have needs that are different from those of their larger colleagues, AT&T; Corp. and MCI Inc.

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James S. Granelli