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


In the Matter of                )
                                )
Petition for Forbearance of the Independent)
Telephone and Telecommunications )      ASD File No. 98-43
Alliance                        )


                              ORDER

Adopted:  January 19, 1999                     Released:  January 20, 1999

By the Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau:

     1.   In this Order, pursuant to section 10(c) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended
(the Communications Act), we extend by 90 days the date by which a petition requesting forbearance filed
by the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance (ITTA) shall be deemed granted in the
absence of a Commission decision that the petition fails to meet the standards for forbearance under section
10(a) of the Communications Act.

     2.   On February 17, 1998, ITTA filed a petition for forbearance requesting that the
Commission forbear from applying nine regulations to mid-sized incumbent local exchange carriers serving
fewer than two percent of the nation's access lines.  

     3.   Section 10(c) of the Communications Act states that a petition for forbearance shall be
deemed granted if the Commission does not deny the petition for failure to meet the requirements for
forbearance under subsection (a) within one year after the Commission receives it, unless the one-year
period is extended by the Commission.  The Commission may extend the initial one-year period by an
additional 90 days if the Commission finds that an extension is necessary to meet the requirements of
subsection 10(a).

     4.   The petition under review raises significant questions regarding whether forbearance from
the reporting, recordkeeping, procedural, and structural requirements cited in the ITTA petition meet the
statutory requirements set forth in section 10(a).  The Common Carrier Bureau thus finds that a 90-day
extension is warranted under section 10.

     5.   Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to section 10 of the Communications Act of
1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  160, and authority delegated under sections 0.91 and 0.291 of the
Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.91 and 0.291, that the date on which the petition seeking forbearance
filed by the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance shall be deemed granted in the
absence of a Commission denial of the petition for failure to meet the statutory standards for forbearance is
extended to May 18, 1999.



                              FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION




                              Yog R. Varma
                              Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau