[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 65 (Monday, April 6, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 16696-16697]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-8932]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Part 64
[CC Docket Nos. 96-149 and 96-61; DA 98-556]
Independent LECs Providing In-Region, Interstate, Interexchange
Services on an Integrated Basis; Delay of Deadline
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final rule; partial stay.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Common Carrier Bureau of the Federal Communications
Commission has released an Order staying the provision for the April
18, 1998 deadline by which independent LECs providing in-region,
interstate, interexchange services on an integrated basis must comply
with the Commission's requirement that they provide these services
through a separate affiliate. Petitions for reconsideration of the
separate affiliate requirement are currently under consideration by the
Commission and may not be decided by the April 18, 1998 deadline for
compliance. To ensure that independent LECs do not incur compliance
costs while the possibility of changes to the requirement still exists,
the Order released by the Common Carrier Bureau stays the portion of
the rule that provides the deadline for compliance until 60 days after
the release of a Commission reconsideration order addressing this
issue.
DATES: Effective March 24, 1998, 47 CFR 64.1903(c) published July 3,
1997 (62 FR 35974) is stayed until 60 days after the release of the
Commission's order on reconsideration in CC Docket Nos. 96-149 and 96-
61. The Commission will publish the date on which the stay expires in
the Federal Register.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brent Olson, Common Carrier Bureau,
Policy and Program Planning Division, (202) 418-7152.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Synopsis of Order
In the LEC Classification Order, 62 FR 35974, July 3, 1997, which
was released on April 18, 1997, the Commission revised its regulatory
treatment of Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) and independent local
exchange carriers (LECs) that provide domestic, interstate,
interexchange, and international services. The Common Carrier Bureau
has released this Order to stay the April 18, 1998 deadline by which
independent LECs currently providing in-region, interstate,
interexchange services on an integrated basis must comply with the
Commission's requirement that they provide these services through a
separate affiliate.
In the LEC Classification Order, the Commission concluded that
independent LECs must provide in-region, interstate, interexchange
services through a separate affiliate that satisfies the separation
requirements enumerated in the Fifth Report and Order, 49 FR 34824,
September 4, 1984. The Commission recognized that independent LECs
providing these services on an integrated basis face greater costs of
complying with the Fifth Report and Order separation requirements than
those already providing such services on a separated basis.
Accordingly, the Commission allowed independent LECs providing in-
region, interstate, interexchange services on an integrated basis one
year from the date of release of the LEC Classification Order (i.e.,
until April 18, 1998) to comply with the Fifth Report and Order
separation requirements (47 CFR 64.1903(c).)
Following the release of the LEC Classification Order, a number of
petitioners sought reconsideration of a variety of issues, including
the decision
[[Page 16697]]
to apply the Fifth Report and Order separation requirements to
independent LECs providing in-region, interstate, interexchange
services. These petitions currently are under consideration by the
Commission and may not be decided by April 18, 1998, the deadline for
compliance with the separate affiliate requirement. We find that it is
in the public interest for the Commission to address and resolve, prior
to the deadline for compliance, petitioners' claim that this
requirement should not be applied to independent LECs, so such LECs
need not incur compliance costs while the possibility of changes to
this requirement still exists. Accordingly, we find good cause to stay
Sec. 64.1903(c) which provides the date by which independent LECs
providing in-region, interstate, interexchange services must comply
with the Fifth Report and Order separation requirements until 60 days
after release of a Commission reconsideration order addressing this
issue.
Federal Communications Commission.
A. Richard Metzger, Jr.,
Chief, Common Carrier Bureau.
[FR Doc. 98-8932 Filed 4-3-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P