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Washington, D.C.  20554

This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release
of the full text of a Commission order
constitutes official action.  See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C.
Cir. 1974).



Report No.  IN 97-16           COMMISSION ACTION                 
June 20, 1997

           COMMISSION GRANTS APPLICATION OF CABLE & WIRELESS, PLC
      TO LAND AND OPERATE A NON-COMMON CARRIER SUBMARINE CABLE
BETWEEN
                  THE UNITED STATES AND THE UNITED KINGDOM
                           (File No. SCL-97-005) 


       The Commission today granted the application of Cable &
Wireless, plc (C&W) for
authority under the Cable Landing License Act (47 U.S.C. Sections
34-39), to land and
operate a non-common carrier fiber optic submarine cable
extending between the United
States and the United Kingdom.  The cable system will be owned
exclusively by C&W, a
company organized under the laws of the United Kingdom, except
for the U.S. cable landing
station, which will be eighty percent U.S.-owned.

       The Commission reviewed the application under the Cable
Landing License Act,
applying an analysis consistent with the regulatory framework
adopted in the Foreign Carrier
Entry Order and recently applied in Telefonica Larga Distancia de
Puerto Rico, Inc.,
Memorandum Opinion and Order, FCC 97-127, SCL-93-001 (rel. May 2,
1997).  Under this
standard, the Commission found that C&W's U.K. affiliate,
Mercury, lacks market power in
the proposed cable system's foreign destination market, the
United Kingdom.  The
Commission thus concluded that it need not examine whether the
United Kingdom affords
U.S. carriers effective competitive opportunities to land and
operate submarine cable systems. 
The Commission noted, however, that on December 19, 1996, the
U.K. Government granted
over forty new international facilities licenses which permit
licensees to land and operate
submarine cable systems in the United Kingdom.   


     Action by the Commission June 6, 1997, by Cable Landing
License (FCC 97-204). 

                                  - FCC -

     News Media contact:  Meribeth McCarrick at (202) 418-0256.
     International Bureau contact:  Joanna Lowry at (202)
418-1470.