$//Amendment of Part 36 & Establishment of Joint Board, DA 95-109//$

$/ 36.631 Expense Adjustment/$
$/ 36.621 Study Area Total Unseparated Loop Costs//$
$/ 36.611 Submission of Data to the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA)/$
$/ 0.91 Functions of the Bureau /$


                                Before the
                     FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                          Washington, D.C. 20554

                                                  DA 95-109

In the Matter of                             )
                                             )
Amendment of Part 36 of the        )    CC Docket No. 80-286
Commission's Rules and             ) 
Establishment of a Joint Board          ) 


                                   ORDER

           Adopted:  January 30, 1995                Released:  January 31, 1995

By the Deputy Chief, Common Carriers Bureau:
     
     1.  Beehive Telephone Co., Inc., and Beehive Telephone Inc., Nevada, (hereafter
collectively referred to as "the Beehive companies") have requested a waiver from our
recent Order that requires carriers to complete the Universal Service Fund Data Request. 
As with other Commission requirements, we will grant a waiver of this order only if
special circumstances warrant deviation from the general rule and such deviation serves
the public interest.   For the reasons set forth below, we deny the Beehive companies'
request for waiver.

     2.  The Beehive companies provide telephone service to approximately 600
customers residing in a 10,000 square mile area of Utah and Nevada.  The  Utah study
area consists of 489 loops that have a cost of $1,123 each.  The Beehive companies will
receive $304,000, approximately $621 per loop, from the Universal Service Fund
("USF")  in 1995.  The Nevada study area consists of 70 loops that have a cost of $771
per loop.  The USF will provide $25,000, approximately $357 per loop, to the Beehive
companies, for this service area in 1995.

     3.  The Commission has structured the USF to promote affordable local telephone
service by providing financial assistance to local exchange carriers ("LECs") that serve
subscribers in areas for which local loop costs significantly exceed the national average
cost of subscriber loops.  The telecommunications industry, however, has changed
significantly since the USF was first adopted, with carriers deploying new technologies
and facing incipient competition for services for which previously there was none.   We
have required every carrier that provides "Telephone Exchange Service," as defined in
Section 3(r) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, to complete the Universal
Service Fund Data Request.  As we explained in our Data Order, the purpose of the data
request is "to evaluate the current assistance mechanisms and to estimate the financial
effects of possible rules changes on both telecommunications providers and subscribers."

     4.  It is essential for us to gather data from every carrier so that we can properly
evaluate the current assistance mechanisms.  Moreover, without such data we cannot
assess how various proposed changes to the structure of the USF would affect carriers. 
While we have requested data from the entire industry, we believe that data from carriers
(such as the Beehive companies) that receive significant funding from the USF will be
especially important to our analysis of the adequacy of the current USF rules and
potential effects of changing them.  The Beehive companies contend that this data
request will impose an excessive burden on them because of the time and expense they
allege it will take them to complete the request.  This, however, does not demonstrate
special circumstances that warrant deviation from our general requirement.  In
particular, the companies have not distinguished themselves from other small LECs that
must also complete the data request.  As a result, we conclude that waiving for the
Beehive companies our general requirement that  local exchange carriers complete the
Universal Service Fund Data Request will not serve the public interest.
     
     5.  Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Sections 4(i), 4(j), and 5(c) of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  154(i), 154(j), and 155(c), and
Sections 0.91 and 0.291 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.91 and 0.291, that 









the petition filed by Beehive Telephone Co., Inc., and Beehive Telephone Inc., Nevada,
requesting a waiver of the Data Order in this proceeding IS DENIED.

     

                      FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

     

                      Kathleen B. Levitz
                      Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau