Verizon's Rickety 'Framework'

Verizon (VZ Quote) hopes a big deal with a small rival can carry a lot of weight.

Sterling Telecom, a unit of closely held BAS Communications of New Hyde Park, N.Y. has agreed to a wholesale pricing arrangement with Verizon. No terms were disclosed in the announcement late Friday, but Verizon called it a "framework" for future contracts with competitors that rent its local phone network to resell calling services.

The proposed deal is one of the first that the New York phone giant has been able to reach as national pricing rules continue to flip-flop . And while Verizon holds up the deal as proof that it can strike reasonable agreements with rivals, observers say these arrangements will be rare and inconsequential as the industry waits for more definitive pricing rules to be handed down.

The Federal Communications Commission is working on a new set of rules in the wake of a major setback earlier this month, when it failed to get a U.S. Supreme Court appeal approved by the Bush administration. ...