Stone & Baxter has extensive experience in telecommunications, representing competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) and municipal telephone companies before both the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Such representation has included formation and certification of carriers; tariff filings before those agencies; disputes with competing carriers; broadband and fiber issues; and preparing and filing required periodic reports.
Disputes frequently result in extended hearings; preparation of pre-filed witness testimony and pleadings; negotiation with agency staff and opposing parties; and handling appeals of agency decisions to the appropriate state or federal court.
Additionally, because telecommunications services are now provided extensively by cable television companies, we regularly serve as regulatory counsel for the Georgia Cable Association (GCA) and appear on the GCA’s behalf before the PSC on a host of issues.
We also represent several of the GCA’s largest member companies in various regulatory matters.
Stone & Baxter formed and obtained a certificate for the first independent CLEC that is authorized to do business in Georgia, Georgia Com South, Inc., in 1996. It also formed Access Integrated Networks, Inc., which grew into one of the largest providers of local exchange service in the state before merging with Birch Communications. The firm continues to represent several municipal telecommunications companies.
Our telecom representations have also included lobbying efforts in both the Georgia General Assembly and in Congress.
Mark Baxter is a long-term member of the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA).