[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 93 (Monday, May 13, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 22008-22010]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-11965]



=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Chapter I

[CC Docket No. 96-98, DA 96-700]


Implementation of the Local Competition Provisions in the 
Telecommunications Act of 1996; Increase in Page Limits for Comments 
and Reply Comments on Proposed Rule

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: On April 19, 1996, the Commission adopted and released a 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to implement provisions of the 
Telecommunications Act of 1996 that address local competition. In 
addition to seeking comment on substantive rules, the NPRM established 
a limit of seventy-five (75) pages for the initial round of comments 
and thirty-five (35) pages for reply comments. Exhibits, appendices, 
and affidavits of expert

[[Page 22009]]

witnesses are counted towards these page limits. In response to motions 
filed by GTE Service Corporation and the Consumer Federation of 
America, the Commission hereby increases the limit for initial comments 
from 75 to 120 pages and the limit for replies from 35 to 50 pages. In 
addition, the Commission expands the exclusion from these page limits 
to include any technical diagrams submitted by commenters in addition 
to the previously excluded documents. These modifications are intended 
to permit the development of the best possible record in light of the 
statutory deadline.

DATES: Comments on all sections of the NPRM other than Dialing Parity, 
Number Administration, Public Notice of Technical Changes, and Access 
to Rights of Way, must be submitted on or before May 16, 1996. Reply 
Comments must be filed on or before May 30, 1996. Comments on the 
remaining sections must be submitted on or before May 20, 1996. Reply 
comments for these sections must be submitted on or before June 3, 
1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments and reply comments should be sent to Office of the 
Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, 1919 M Street, N.W., Room 
222, Washington, D.C. 20554, with a copy to Janice Myles of the Common 
Carrier Bureau, 1919 M Street, N.W., Room 544, Washington, D.C. 20554. 
A copy of Comments and Reply Comments on Dialing Parity, Number 
Administration, Public Notice of Technical Changes, and Access to 
Rights of Way should be submitted to Gloria Shambley of the Network 
Services Division, Common Carrier Bureau, 2000 M Street, N.W., 
Washington, D.C. 20554. Parties should also file one copy of any 
documents filed in this docket with the Commission's copy contractor, 
International Transcription Services, Inc., 2100 M Street, N.W., Suite 
140, Washington, D.C. 20037. Comments and reply comments will be 
available for public inspection during regular business hours in the 
FCC Reference Center, 1919 M Street, N.W., Room 239, Washington, D.C. 
20554. Parties are also asked to submit comments and reply comments on 
diskette. Such diskette submissions would be in addition to and not a 
substitute for the formal filing requirements addressed above. Parties 
submitting diskettes should submit them to Janice Myles of the Common 
Carrier Bureau, 1919 M Street, N.W., Room 544, Washington, D.C. 20554. 
In addition to filing comments with the Secretary, a copy of any 
comments on the information collections contained herein should be 
remitted to Dorothy Conway, Federal Communications Commission, Room 
234, 1919 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20554 or via the Internet to 
[email protected], and to Timothy Fain, OMB Desk Officer, 10236 NEOB, 
725--17th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20503 or via the Internet to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kalpak Gude at (202) 418-1580, Common 
Carrier Bureau, Policy and Program Planning Division.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Adopted: May 7, 1996
Released: May 7, 1996

    By the Chief, Common Carrier Bureau:
    1. On April 19, 1996, the Commission released a Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking (Notice) in CC Docket No. 96-98 to implement the local 
competition provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. 
Implementation of the Local Competition Provisions of the 
Telecommunications Act of 1996, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, CC 
Docket No. 96-98, FCC 96-182, 61 FR 18311 (April 25, 1996). The NPRM 
provided that comments were to be no longer than seventy-five (75) 
pages and that reply comments were to be no longer than thirty-five 
(35) pages, including exhibits, appendices, and affidavits of expert 
witnesses. Empirical economic studies and copies of relevant state 
orders were not to be counted against these page limits. The NPRM 
required parties to file comments by May 16, 1996 and reply comments by 
May 30, 1996. The NPRM established separate comment and reply dates for 
issues regarding Dialing Parity, Number Administration, Notice of 
Technical Changes, and Access to Rights of Way. Nothing in this order 
alters or affects filing procedures regarding those issues.
    2. On May 1, 1996, GTE Service Corporation (GTE) and the Consumer 
Federation of America (CFA) filed motions for extension of time. GTE 
Motion for Extension of Time and for Waiver of Page Limits (filed May 
1, 1996); CFA Request for Extension of Time (filed May 1, 1996). GTE 
argued that, in light of the number of issues to be addressed, the 
inclusion of appendices in the page limits, the 35 page limit for 
replies, and the 14 day time period for replies, will preclude 
development of the most helpful and informative record. Among other 
things, GTE emphasized the difficulty of reviewing the record and 
filing reply comments within 14 days. GTE urged the Commission to 
modify the comment filing procedures to provide that: (1) Exhibits, 
appendices, and affidavits not be counted against the page limits; (2) 
the page limit for replies be 50 pages; and (3) the date for filing 
reply comments be increased from 14 to 21 days after the comment due 
date, i.e., June 6, 1996.
    3. CFA argued that this proceeding and the universal service 
proceeding are inextricably linked, and that the limited comment 
periods in this proceeding would have a disproportionate negative 
effect on the ability of public interest groups to file comments. 
Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking and Order Establishing Joint Board, CC Docket No. 96-45, FCC 
96-93, 61 FR 10499 (March 14, 1996). CFA argued that large 
telecommunications companies with substantial resources would have less 
difficulty participating in both proceedings, while public interest 
groups may be forced to either file comments which are less than 
complete or not file comments at all. CFA asserted that this would 
result in an incomplete record. CFA requested the Commission to extend 
the time to file comments until June 13, 1996 and the time for reply 
comments until July 3, 1996.
    4. In light of concerns expressed by the parties, and in the 
interest of building the best record possible under the existing 
circumstances, the page limitations are modified as follows: (1) 
Comments must be no longer than one hundred twenty (120) pages and 
reply comments no longer than fifty (50) pages; (2) in addition to 
empirical economic studies and copies of relevant state orders, 
technical diagrams will not count against these page limitations; and 
(3) an additional 4 copies of comments and reply comments must be sent 
to Janice Myles of the Common Carrier Bureau, 1919 M Street, NW., Room 
544, Washington, DC 20554. We decline to adopt GTE's request that 
exhibits, appendices and affidavits be excluded from the page limit 
since we believe that this could easily be tantamount to removing the 
page limitations altogether. In lieu of this, we are increasing the 
page limit for comments substantially, from 75 to 120 pages. We are 
also increasing the page limit for replies to 50 pages as requested by 
GTE.
    5. We deny the GTE and CFA requests for extension of the dates for 
filing comments and/or replies. Although the current pleading schedule 
is relatively compressed given the scope of the issues involved, we do 
not believe that we can extend the filing dates without compromising 
the Commission's ability to meet the implementation schedule mandated 
by Congress.

[[Page 22010]]

    6. In order to facilitate development of the best possible record 
within existing constraints, we stress the need for interested parties 
to present their positions fully in their initial comments. We 
emphasize that the purpose of reply comments is to permit parties to 
respond to the original comments. 47 CFR Sec. 1.415(c).
    7. Accordingly, it is ordered that the motion for extension of time 
and for waiver of page limits filed by GTE Service Corporation is 
granted to the extent indicated above and otherwise denied.
    8. It is further ordered that the request for extension of time 
filed by the Consumer Federation of America is denied.

Federal Communications Commission.
Regina M. Keeney,
Chief, Common Carrier Bureau.
[FR Doc. 96-11965 Filed 5-10-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P