NEWSReport No. CC 97-52   COMMON CARRIER ACTION              October 8, 1997

FCC Denies Low Tech's Petitions for Preemption of Arbitration Proceedings in
                   Illinois, Georgia, and South Carolina  
                                       
     The FCC has denied three petitions filed by Low Tech Designs, Inc. (LTD)
for FCC assumption of the jurisdiction of arbitration proceedings LTD initiated in
Illinois, Georgia, and South Carolina.  The FCC denied the petitions because it
found that LTD did not prove that the Illinois, Georgia, and South Carolina state
commissions "failed to act" on LTD's arbitration requests under section 252 of the
Communications Act, as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (the Act).

     LTD sought preemption of the three state commissions' jurisdiction pursuant
to section 252(e)(5) of the Act.  Section 252(e)(5) authorizes the FCC to preempt a
state commission's jurisdiction in any proceeding or matter in which the state
commission "fails to act to carry out its responsibility" under section 252.  Section
252 sets out the procedures by which telecommunications carriers may request and
obtain interconnection, unbundled network elements, or resale from an incumbent
local exchange carrier either through voluntary negotiations or through mediation or
arbitration by state commissions. In its Local Competition Order, the FCC
determined that it would preempt a state commission's jurisdiction for "failure to act"
under section 252(e)(5) only if the state commission failed to respond within a
reasonable time to a request for mediation or arbitration, or failed to complete
arbitration within the time limits of section 252.
     
     Each of the state commissions issued a final decision on LTD's arbitration
petition within the statutory deadline and determined that LTD had not satisfied
prerequisite conditions to invoke compulsory arbitration.  In the preemption petitions
LTD filed with the FCC, it claims that the Illinois, Georgia, and South Carolina state
commissions "failed to fulfill [their] duty to arbitrate failed negotiations" between
LTD and Ameritech, BellSouth, and GTE, respectively. LTD does not allege,
however, that any of the state commissions "failed to act" upon its arbitration request
in a timely manner, nor that any of the arbitration decisions were untimely rendered.
Rather, it challenges the substantive bases upon which each state commission
determined that LTD was not entitled to invoke compulsory arbitration.

       In a Memorandum Opinion and Order released today, the FCC found that
the three state commissions did not "fail to act" because they responded to LTD's
requests for arbitration and rendered a final decision in each arbitration in a timely
manner. The FCC, therefore, did not preempt the state commissions' decisions.

     Action by the Commission October 7, 1997, by Memorandum Opinion and
Order (FCC 97-362).  Chairman Hundt, Commissioners Quello, Ness, and Chong.

  -FCC-
                                      
     News media contact:  Rochelle Cohen at (202) 418-0253.
     Common Carrier Bureau contact:  Susan Launer at (202) 418-1580.