NOTICE ********************************************************* NOTICE ********************************************************* This document was originally prepared in Word Perfect. If the original document contained-- * Footnotes * Boldface & Italics --this information is missing in this version The document format (spacing, margins, tabs, etc.) is changed too. If you need the complete document, download the Word Perfect version. For information about downloading documents (FTP) see file how2ftp. File how2ftp (.txt & .wp) is in directory /pub/Bureaus/Miscellaneous/Public_Notices/ ***************************************************************** ******** $// Order; DeKalb, et.al., (Joint Petition for Waiver); DA 96-409 /$ $/ Section 0.291 Delegated Auhority /$ TRANSMITTED FOR FCC RECORD ONLY Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 DA 96-409 In the Matter of ) ) DeKalb Telephone Cooperative, Inc. ) ) Fairbanks Municipal Utilities System ) ) All West Communications, Inc. ) ) GVNW Inc./Management ) ) Petitions for Waiver of) Section 69.3(f) of ) the Commission s Rules ) ORDER Adopted: March 22, 1996; Released: March 22, 1996 By the Chief, Common Carrier Bureau: I. INTRODUCTION 1. The captioned petitioners each request waiver of Section 69.3(f) of the Commission s Rules, 47 C.F.R.  69.3(f). That section provides that small telephone companies may file access tariffs pursuant to Section 61.39 of the Rules, 47 C.F.R.  61.39, for a biennial period to be effective on July 1 of any odd-numbered year. Petitioners request waiver of Section 69.3(f) in order to file their own access tariffs for a one-year period with a July 1, 1996 effective date. II. SUMMARY OF PLEADINGS 2. DeKalb, FMUS, All West, and Yelm state that they wish to withdraw from the National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc. (NECA) traffic sensitive (TS) pool, effective July 1, 1996. Madison, Oneida, Shawnee and West River currently file their own TS rates under Section 61.38 of the Rules, see 47 C.F.R.  61.38, and each desires to change its filing status to enable it to file under Section 61.39 of the Rules. Finally, Kerman currently files its own TS rates under Section 61.39, and wishes to file new rates in 1996, an even-numbered year. Petitioners maintain that waiver of Section 69.3(f) to allow them to file access tariffs under Section 61.39 to become effective July 1, 1996, is in the public interest for the following reasons. All West, DeKalb, FMUS and Yelm argue that granting the waiver will allow them to lower their TS rates below the current NECA pooling rates. In the case of Kerman, its increased rates will be a cost-based correction to an error in its 1995 annual access tariff filing. In the GVNW Petition, Madison, Oneida, Shawnee and West River all indicate that they desire to change filing status from Section 61.38 to Section 61.39 because of previous difficulties in accurately forecasting access demand and company expenditures, which have resulted in significant under-earnings in the case of Madison, and in significant over-earnings in the cases of Oneida, Shawnee and West River. III. DISCUSSION 3. A waiver is justified if application of a rule would frustrate its underlying purpose, or if grant of a waiver is otherwise in the public interest. The purpose of the streamlined tariffing requirements for small telephone companies established in Section 61.39 is to reduce regulation for such carriers by allowing them to set their access rates based on historical costs, which are easier to compute and evaluate than rates based on projections of future costs and demand. In adopting the Section 69.3(f) biennial period for the filing of Section 61.39 access tariffs by small telephone companies in odd-numbered years, the Commission explained that: Changes in costs and demand which affect the reasonableness of the filed rates are likely to increase over time and use of a two- year period . . . seems to strike a reasonable balance in correcting the rates while reducing the filing burdens. The Commission further determined that a period of more than two years between filings could allow small telephone companies to charge excessive rates and would violate the rate neutrality principle. 4. The Commission, however, did not forbid small telephone companies from filing access tariffs more frequently if they so choose. On the contrary, the Commission found that filing access tariffs more often than every two years would not pose any risk of carriers charging excessive rates. Accordingly, the Bureau concludes that strict adherence to the Section 69.3(f) biennial filing period, which would require petitioners to wait until next year to file their access tariffs, would frustrate the underlying purpose of Sections 69.3(f) and 61.39 of affording small telephone companies with a streamlined and flexible tariffing process. Further, the record in this case indicates that grant of the required waivers will permit those carriers exiting the NECA pools to tariff lower rates for access charges than they would assess if they remained in the NECA pools, and would permit those carriers who voluntarily chose to file under Section 61.38 in 1995, to file rates that are more accurately cost-based this year under Section 61.39. 5. Finally, Kerman asks for a waiver of 69.3(f) where none is required. Section 69.3(f) states that telephone companies filing pursuant to  61.39 may file their access tariffs . . . for a biennial period with a minimum of 90 days notice and scheduled effective date of July 1 of any odd numbered year. Because Kerman filed its biennial tariff in 1995 under Section 61.39, nothing in the Rules precludes them from filing a revision to that tariff on 90 days notice to become effective on July 1, 1996, so long as the requirements of Section 61.39 are satisfied. IV. ORDERING CLAUSES 6. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Section 4(i) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  4(i), and Section 0.91 and 0.291 of the Commission s Rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.91, 0.291, the petitions of All West Communications, Inc., DeKalb Telephone Cooperative, Inc., Fairbanks Municipal Utilities System and GVNW Inc./Management for waiver of Section 69.3(f) of the Commission s Rules, 47 C.F.R.  69.3(f), ARE GRANTED. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION A. Richard Metzger Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau