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    Before the
           Federal Communications Commission
                Washington, D.C. 20554
     
                                   
     In the Matter of                   )
     Implementation of the             )  CC Docket No. 96-98
     Local Competition Provisions       )
     of the Telecommunications Act of 1996         )
                                   
       
           ORDER GRANTING EXTENSION OF TIME
  
  Adopted:      January 6, 2000               Released:    January 7, 2000
  
  By the Deputy Chief, Policy and Program Planning Division, Common Carrier Bureau:
  
  1.      On November 5, 1999, the Commission released a Fourth Further Notice of Proposed
  Rulemaking (Fourth FNPRM) in the above-captioned proceeding, in which it solicited comment on
  certain issues regarding the use of unbundled network elements to provide exchange access services. 
  On November 24, 1999, the Commission issued a Supplemental Order addressing the ability of
  interexchange carriers to convert special access services to combinations of unbundled loops and
  transport network elements pending resolution of the Fourth FNPRM, which will occur on or before
  June 30, 2000, and expanding the scope of the Fourth FNPRM to seek comment on the use of such
  combinations to provide exchange access services.  The current comment and reply comment
  deadlines for the Fourth FNPRM are January 12, 2000, and February 11, 2000, respectively.
  
  2.      On December 29, 1999, the United States Telecom Association (USTA) filed a request
  seeking a two week extension to file comments and reply comments, or until January 26, 2000 and
  February 25, 2000.  USTA states that the requested extension will allow its incumbent local exchange
  carrier members to gather data necessary to compile a complete factual record on the potential impacts
  that could arise from allowing carriers to use combinations of unbundled network elements solely to
  provide exchange access service.  On January 3, 2000, Sprint filed an opposition to USTA's request
  for an extension of time. 
  
  3.      Although the Commission does not routinely grant requests for extension of time, we will
  extend the filing dates in this proceeding by one week.  The Commission acknowledged in the Fourth
  FNPRM that resolution of the exchange access issue could have a large financial impact on incumbent
  local exchange carriers, and we expect interested parties to provide detailed data and analysis
  addressing the extent of this impact.  Under these circumstances, we believe it is reasonable to provide
  parties some additional time to compile and analyze pertinent data so that they may identify the extent
  to which the Commission should consider this issue when it addresses the Fourth FNPRM.  We
  disagree with Sprint that delaying the filing of comments will advantage USTA's members and
  prejudice the interests of interexchange carriers because the Commission has stated that it will conclude
  the Fourth FNPRM on or before June 30, 2000, irrespective of the comment filing dates.  In light of
  this date, and because, as Sprint points out, parties have already had time to undertake data
  compilation efforts, we will extend the filing dates by one week, not two weeks, as USTA requests. 
  The deadline for filing initial comments will therefore be January 19, 2000, and the deadline for filing
  reply comments will be February 18, 2000.
  
  4.        Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the Request for Extension of Time filed by USTA
  is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.
  
  5.        IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the deadlines for filing comments and reply
  comments in this proceeding ARE EXTENDED to January 19, 2000, and February 18, 2000,
  respectively.
    
  6.        This action is taken pursuant to authority found in section 4(i) and 303(r) of the
  Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  154(i), 303(r), and sections 0.291 and 1.46
  of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.291, 1.46.
  
  
  
                                FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                                
                                
                                
                                
                                Jake E. Jennings
                                Deputy Chief, Policy and Program Planning Division
                                Common Carrier Bureau