NEWSReport No. DC 96-104NEWS ACTION IN DOCKET CASE            November 22, 1996

         COMMISSION INITIATES PROCEEDING TO IMPLEMENT INFRASTRUCTURE
           SHARING PROVISION OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1996
                           (CC Docket No. 96-237)
                                      
                                      
 The Commission today initiated a proceeding to implement section 259, the
infrastructure sharing provision of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.  Section 259 of the
1996 Act requires the Commission to adopt regulations to ensure that incumbent local
exchange carriers (LECs) make available to "qualifying carriers" public switched network
infrastructure, technology, information, and telecommunications facilities and functions.  This
availability is intended to allow qualifying carriers to provide telecommunications and
information services in areas where they are eligible for universal service support.

 In the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) released today, the Commission
sought comment on the scope of required infrastructure sharing, the specific directives
Congress imposed on the Commission regarding the terms and conditions of implementing
regulations, network service, and equipment information sharing, and the definition of
qualifying carriers.  The Commission asks, for example, whether the purpose of section 259 is
to benefit small carriers in an effort to advance the pro-competitive and universal service
goals of the 1996 Act.  In the NPRM, the Commission also asks what is included within the
public switched network infrastructure, technology, information, and telecommunications
facilities and functions.

 The Commission stated that the rules and guidelines implementing section 259 should
promote the development of competition and universal service, and that any significant
variance between this proceeding and the implementation of other sections of the 1996 Act
would undermine these two important and interrelated goals.  Consequently, the Commission
tentatively concluded that the requirements of section 259 should be interpreted, wherever
possible, as complimentary to the Commission's implementation of other sections of the 1996
Act.  The Commission also tentatively concluded that the best way to implement section 259,
overall, is to set forth general rules and guidelines, stating that section 259-derived
arrangements should be largely the product of negotiations among parties. 

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 Action by the Commission November 22, 1996, by Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(FCC 96-456).  Chairman Hundt, Commissioners Quello, Ness, and Chong.

-FCC-
                                      
 News Media contact: Mindy J. Ginsburg at (202) 418-1500.
 Common Carrier Bureau contacts: Tom Beers (202) 418-0952.