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                            Before the
                Federal Communications Commission
                      Washington, D.C. 20554

In the Matter of                   )
                              )    IB Docket No. 96-261
International Settlement Rates          )
                    
                 Order Granting Extension of Time

Adopted:  February 27, 1997                       Released:  February 27, 1997

By the Chief, International Bureau:

     1.   On February 21, 1997, the Republic of Panama filed a motion to extend the reply
comment date in the captioned proceeding from March 10, 1997 to April 14, 1997.  The
Republic of Panama contends that the current schedule provides it insufficient time to prepare
informed reply comments for two reasons.  First, the Republic of Panama asserts that the failure
of the Commission's Record Imaging Processing System ("RIPS") has made it difficult for it and
other interested parties to obtain a complete set of the comments filed in this proceeding. 
Second, the Republic of Panama states that it needs more time to review the recent agreement of
the World Trade Organization's Group on Basic Telecommunications and assess the agreement's
impact on the proposals made in this proceeding. 

     2.   Although we do not routinely grant extensions of time, we believe that extending
the reply comment date in this case will serve the public interest by allowing the Republic of
Panama and other interested parties adequate time to review and reply to any comments that they
had difficulty in obtaining because of the failure of RIPS.  We believe that an extension to March
31, 1997 will provide sufficient time for interested parties to complete their reply comments. 
Interested parties may obtain copies of the comments filed in this proceeding from the
Commission's Reference Center, 1919 M Street, NW, Room 239, Washington, DC 20554. 
Copies of the comments filed in this proceeding are also available for purchase from the
Commission's copy contractor, International Transcription Services, Inc. ("ITS"), 2100 M Street,
NW, Suite 140, Washington, DC 20037.  In order to compensate further for the RIPS outage, we
will place copies of the comments filed in this proceeding in the International Bureau Reference
Center, Room 102, 2000 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20554.

     3.   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
0.51, 0.261, and 1.46 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.51, 0.261, and 1.46, that the
reply comment date in the captioned proceeding IS EXTENDED from March 10, 1997 to March
31, 1997.

     4.   IT IS FURTHER 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
0.51, 0.261, and 1.46 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.51, 0.261, and 1.46, that the
Republic of Panama's motion to extend the reply comment date IS GRANTED to the extent it
requests additional time up to March 31, 1997, but IS DENIED to the extent it requests
additional time beyond that date.



                    FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION



                    Donald H. Gips
                    Chief, International Bureau