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Here you will be introduced to information designed
to help you cope with either furnishing or acquiring telecom services in the complex "post-tariffing" environment. Use the
links to browse through information that will be of great value as you enter the "brave new world" of business telecommunications.
ABOUT
DJE TELECONSULTING
Don Elardo established DJE Teleconsulting, LLC, to bring some sense of meaning and understanding
to an otherwise difficult and confusing telecommunications transactional arena. He brings over thirty years of telecom experience
to his consulting practice.
Don began his career with the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") in 1969 and left
WorldCom (now MCI)in May 2002 after twenty-four years of service. Some of the more significant of Don's past achievements
may be viewed by clicking on the "Experiences" link.
Prior to shifting his legal practice from federal regulatory law
to business markets transactions in 1997, Don and his staff were responsible for representing MCI (acquired by WorldCom in
1998) in policy and enforcement matters before the FCC and in the federal courts. With the change, Don assumed responsibility
for MCI's and, later, WorldCom's customer service contracts and federal tariffing and detariffing activities involving more
than sixty tariffs.
His background in the telecom transactional area dates back to 1987 when he developed the legal
and business rationale to support MCI's desire to transact with large business customers on an individual case basis. Called
"Special Customer Arrangements" or "SCAs," these negotiated customer agreements were successfully defended by Don before the
FCC, although the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled in 1994 that MCI's SCAs had to be tariffed under then-prevailing legal
requirements. At that time, Don headed up a large cross-functional MCI group tasked with tariffing a backload of several
years of these service arrangements. He set the standards and established internal programs and processes for tariffing MCI's
SCAs and, in 2000 and 2001, he led the effort to detariff them when the FCC mandated the elimination of tariffs. (It is worthy
of note that MCI's success with SCAs in the 1980's led to later FCC deregulatory actions that eventually allowed AT&T, the
then-"dominant carrier," to transact "one-on-one" with users via so-called "contract-tariffs" and, today, allows "dominant
carriers" some flexibility to enter these kinds of business arrangements with their customers.)
Don also developed
and maintained a "Handbook" for internal MCI and, later, WorldCom use that addressed regulatory requirements and internal
company transactional policies and practices. He was the key Company resource on regulatory and transactional issues for
field attorneys and others engaged in contract negotiations with customers and their representatives. He also advised Company
attorneys involved in customer disputes about applicable regulatory requirements, contract and tariff terms, and Company transactional
policies and practices. Don frequently met or communicated with customer and customer organizations (and their representatives)
with respect to controversial issues, such as the "Federal Universal Service Fee" and the "Carrier Access Charge." Don also
has been a frequent participant in telecom industry conferences and panels over the years.
Most recently, Don has been
involved in matters and proceedings relating to "Voice over Internet Protocol" ("VoIP) technology. He has conducted two audioconferences
on the subject, has addressed industry associations on VoIP regulation, and has filed regulatory recommendations before the
FCC. He champions the view that consumers and competition will benefit most if government regulation is limited and applied
evenly to all providers of substitutable telecommunications services, no matter the technology used to furnish them.
Don
also appeared recently as an "expert witness" in litigation involving the question of whether a carrier's federal tariff was
compliant with FCC tariffing rules and precedent.
Don's wealth of regulatory and telecom transactional experiences
is captured in "The Brave New World of Business Telecom Transacting," which is "must reading" for those who either provide
or purchase business telecom services. An excerpt from that article addresses the significant changes recently taking place
in the telecom business and regulatory environment and is accessible via the "Brave New World" link. As the owner of DJE
Teleconsulting, LLC, Don is in a unique position to offer effective advice and guidance encompassing a broad range of regulatory
and transactional telecom matters based on his extensive experience and expertise. Some of these issues can be seen in the
"Telecom Today" link.
PRIVACY STATEMENT:
At DJE Teleconsulting, we respect a client's right to privacy
and the confidentiality of client information. That is why any information we obtain from a client will be used only for
the purpose for which it was provided and not for any other purpose.
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