[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 11 (Wednesday, January 18, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2940-2942]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-280]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[CG Docket No. 02-386; DA 05-3174]


Minimum Customer Account Record Exchange Obligations on All Local 
and Interexchange Carriers

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice; comments requested.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau 
(Bureau) seeks comment on Mid America Computer Corporation's (MACC's) 
Petition for expedited interim waiver, on behalf of its client 
companies, of the Commission's Customer Account Record Exchange (CARE) 
rules. The Petition asks the Commission to consider waiving the 
requirement that carriers indicate that the customer's account is 
subject to a preferred interexchange carrier (PIC) freeze, and the 
requirement that carriers notify the interexchange carrier that the PIC 
change order is rejected as mandated by the CARE rules.

DATES: Comments are due on or before February 2, 2006, and reply 
comments are due on or before February 13, 2006.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by [docket number and/or 
rulemaking number], by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Federal Communications Commission's Web Site: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Parties who choose to file by paper should also 
submit their comment on diskette. These diskettes should be submitted, 
along with three paper copies to Kelli Farmer, Consumer & Governmental 
Affairs Bureau, Policy Division, 445 12th Street, SW., Room 5-A866, 
Washington, DC 20554. Such a submission should be on a 3.5 inch 
diskette formatted in an IBM compatible formatted using Word 97 or 
compatible software. The diskette should be accompanied by a cover 
letter and should be submitted in ``read only'' mode. The diskette 
should be clearly labeled with the commenter's name, proceeding 
(including the lead docket number in this case CG Docket No. 02-386), 
type of pleading (comment or reply comment), date of submission, and 
the name of the electronic file on the diskette. The label should also 
include the following phrase: ``Disk Copy-Not an Original.'' Each 
diskette should contain only one party's pleadings, preferably in a 
single electronic file. In addition, commenters must send diskette 
copies to the Commission's contractor at Portals II, 445 12th Street, 
SW., Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554.
     People with Disabilities: Contact the FCC to request 
reasonable accommodations (accessible format documents, sign language 
interpreters, CART, etc.) by e-mail: [email protected] or phone: 202-418-
0530 or TTY: 202-418-0432.
    For detailed instructions for submitting comments and additional 
information on the rulemaking process, see the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lisa Boehley, Consumer Policy 
Division, Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau, (202) 418-7395 
(voice), [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's 
document, DA 05-3174, released December 12, 2005 regarding a petition 
filed by MACC against a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking the Commission released on February 25, 2005, published at 
70 FR 32258 (June 2, 2005). The full text of document DA 05-3174, the 
MACC's submission, and copies of any subsequently filed documents in 
this matter will be available for public inspection and copying during 
regular business hours at the FCC Reference Information Center, Portals 
II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-A257, Washington, DC 20554. Document 
DA

[[Page 2941]]

05-3174, the MACC's submission, and copies of subsequently filed 
documents in this matter may also be purchased from the Commission's 
contractor at Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-B402, 
Washington, DC 20554. Customers may contact the Commission's contractor 
at their Web site http://www.bcpiweb.com or call 1-800-378-3160. A copy 
of the MACC's submission may also be found by searching ECFS at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs (insert CG Docket No. 02-386 into the proceeding 
block).
    To request materials in accessible formats for people with 
disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), 
send an e-mail to [email protected] or call the Consumer & Governmental 
Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (TTY). Document DA 
05-3174 can also be downloaded in Word or Portable Document Format 
(PDF) at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/policy. Pursuant to Sec. Sec.  1.415 
and 1.419 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.415, 1.419, interested 
parties may file comments and reply comments on or before the dates 
indicated on the first page of this document. Comments may be filed 
using: (1) the Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), 
(2) the Federal Government's eRulemaking Portal, or (3) by filing paper 
copies. See Electronic Filing of Documents in Rulemaking Proceedings, 
63 FR 24121 (1998).
     Electronic Filers: Comments may be filed electronically 
using the Internet by accessing the ECFS: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/ 
or the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Filers 
should follow the instructions provided on the Web site for submitting 
comments.
     For ECFS filers, if multiple docket or rulemaking numbers 
appear in the caption of this proceeding, filers must transmit one 
electronic copy of the comments for each docket or rulemaking number 
referenced in the caption. In completing the transmittal screen, filers 
should include their full name, U.S. Postal Service mailing address, 
and the applicable docket or rulemaking number. Parties may also submit 
an electronic comment by Internet e-mail. To get filing instructions, 
filers should send an e-mail to [email protected], and include the following 
words in the body of the message, ``get form.'' A sample form and 
directions will be sent in response.
     Paper Filers: Parties who choose to file by paper must 
file an original and four copies of each filing. If more than one 
docket or rulemaking number appears in the caption of this proceeding, 
filers must submit two additional copies for each additional docket or 
rulemaking number. Filings can be sent by hand or messenger delivery, 
by commercial overnight courier, or by first-class or overnight U.S. 
Postal Service mail (although the Commission continues to experience 
delays in receiving U.S. Postal Service mail). All filings must be 
addressed to the Commission's Secretary, Office of the Secretary, 
Federal Communications Commission.
     The Commission's contractor will receive hand-delivered or 
messenger-delivered paper filings for the Commission's Secretary at 236 
Massachusetts Avenue, NE., Suite 110, Washington, DC 20002. The filing 
hours at this location are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. All hand deliveries must be 
held together with rubber bands or fasteners. Any envelopes must be 
disposed of before entering the building.
     Commercial overnight mail (other than U.S. Postal Service 
Express Mail and Priority Mail) must be sent to 9300 East Hampton 
Drive, Capitol Heights, MD 20743.
     U.S. Postal Service first-class, Express, and Priority 
mail should be addressed to 445 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20554.

Synopsis

    On December 2, 2005, Mid America Computer Corporation (MACC) filed 
a petition on behalf of its client companies for expedited, interim 
waiver of requirements set forth in Sec.  64.4002 of the Commission's 
customer account record exchange (CARE) rules. See Petition for 
Expedited Interim Waiver of Sec.  64.4002 of the Commission's rules, 
filed by MACC, December 2, 2005 (Waiver Request). See also 47 CFR 
64.4002 of the Commission rules. The CARE rules generally require 
interexchange carriers (IXCs) and local exchange carriers (LECs) to 
exchange certain customer account information that the Commission has 
determined is needed by carriers to properly bill their customers and 
to execute carrier change requests in a timely and efficient manner. 
See Rules and Regulations Implementing Minimum Customer Account Record 
Exchange Obligations on All Local and Interexchange Carriers, Report 
and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 20 FCC Record 4560 
(released February 25, 2005). The CARE rules became effective on 
September 21, 2005. See Rules and Regulations Implementing Minimum 
Customer Account Record Exchange Obligations on All Local and 
Interexchange Carriers, published at 70 FR 55302 (September 21, 2005).
    MACC states that it provides billing and data processing services 
to small, rural incumbent LECs and, more recently, to competitive LECs 
that provide local and long distance telephone services. On behalf of 
its approximately 275 client companies, MACC asks the Commission for an 
interim waiver of subsection 64.4002(a)(7) and Sec.  64.4002(c) of the 
Commission's CARE rules until September 1, 2006. Subsection 
64.4002(a)(7) of the Commission's rules requires a LEC, upon receiving 
and processing a PIC selection submitted by a customer and placing the 
customer on the network of the customer's preferred IXC at the LEC's 
local switch, to provide certain customer account information to the 
IXC concerning the IXC's new customer. This would include, as relevant 
here, a notification that the IXC customer's account is subject to a 
PIC freeze. See 47 CFR 64.4002(a)(7) of the Commission's rules. Section 
64.4002(c) of the Commission's rules requires a LEC to notify an IXC 
when the LEC has rejected or otherwise has not acted upon an IXC-
submitted PIC change order and to provide the reason(s) why the PIC 
change order could not be processed. See 47 CFR 64.4002(c) of the 
Commission's rules.
    MACC represents that it seeks an interim waiver only with respect 
to the two provisions of the Commission's CARE rules referenced above 
and that its processing services are ``in compliance'' with other 
requirements established in the CARE order. MACC contends that a grant 
of its Waiver Request is needed to allow it ``sufficient time to 
complete [its] development of the software'' required by MACC's clients 
to fully comply with the Commission's February 2005 CARE order. 
According to MACC, an interim waiver would allow it to include the 
programming changes needed to implement these two requirements in its 
next regularly-scheduled release of its operating support system 
product ``without significant costs to its small rural LEC clients.''
    Combining and incorporating the software solutions addressing these 
requirements with the ``regularly-scheduled release of its operating 
support system product,'' according to MACC, will avoid the need to 
issue ``numerous updates'' and thus limit the costs of any required 
updates to its clients.


[[Page 2942]]


Federal Communications Commission.
Jay Keithley,
Deputy Bureau Chief, Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau.
[FR Doc. 06-280 Filed 1-17-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P