NEWSReport No. CC 97-53   COMMON CARRIER ACTION              October 9, 1997

               COMMISSION MODIFIES ACCESS CHARGE REFORM ORDER
                    (CC Docket No. 96-262; 94-1; 91-213)

     The Commission has adopted an order on reconsideration modifying several
of the rules adopted in its May 7, 1997 access charge reform order.

     The reconsideration order reduces the amount of the presubscribed
interexchange carrier charge (PICC) assessed on Centrex lines so that Centrex users
will be assessed PICCs in an amount roughly equivalent to similarly-sized PBX
users.  The PICC is a flat-rated, monthly, per-line charge that LECs will begin
collecting from interexchange carriers (IXCs) on January 1, 1998.  Under the
original rule, Centrex users could have been required to pay many times more PICCs
than PBX users might pay.  In addition, the decision adopts a line-to-trunk
equivalency ratio of nine to one, which means that for most Centrex users, only one-
ninth of a PICC will be assessed per Centrex line.

     The decision also modifies the transport interconnection charge (TIC)
exemption provided in the May 7 order to IXCs using competitive providers of local
transport.  The modified exemption only exempts an IXC using a competitor's
transport facilities from having to pay per-minute TIC amounts that are directly
related to the incumbent LEC's transport facilities.  The reconsideration order also
denies NYNEX's and U S West's petition to stay the rule adopted in May prohibiting
LECs from assessing the per-minute TIC on traffic that uses the LECs' local
switching services, but not the LECs' local transport services.

     The order also grants a waiver requested by the National Exchange Carrier
Association (NECA) that the Commission set the NECA carrier common line rates,
effective January 1, 1998, at levels that will recover the difference between common
line revenue requirements and revenues recovered through subscriber line charges,
special access surcharges, and universal service payments equivalent to current long
term support payments.  This decision allows NECA to conform its rates to decisions
reflected in the universal service docket by reflecting revised long term support
formula amounts in its carrier common line tariff rates.

     Finally, the reconsideration order provides guidance in implementing and
calculating the PICC, and corrects technical errors in the rules adopted in May.

     Action by the Commission October 8, 1997 by Second Order on
Reconsideration and Memorandum Opinion and Order (FCC 97-368).  Chairman
Hundt, Commissioners Quello, Ness, and Chong.

 - FCC -

     News Media contact:  Rochelle Cohen at 418-0253.
     Common Carrier Bureau contact:  Jane Jackson or Rich Lerner at 418-1520.