NEWS
                                                  October 24, 1996


SOLICITOR GENERAL/FCC SEEK TO LIFT EIGHTH CIRCUIT STAY,
PREVENT DELAY OF COMPETITION

     The Solicitor General of the United States today filed with the Supreme Court, on
behalf of the Federal Communications Commission, asking the Court to vacate the stay
imposed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit on portions of the FCC's Order
concerning implementing the local competition provisions of the Telecommunications Act.

     The Solicitor General's filing demonstrates that the Eight Circuit's order "is
inconsistent with the language and purpose of the 1996 Act.  Congress enacted that
legislation to ensure effective competition in local telephony on a national scale.  To achieve
that purpose, and to ensure national uniformity in pricing methodology, Congress directed
the FCC to 'establish regulations to implement the [statutory] requirements' of Section 251,
one of the provisions of the new Act that governs the 'rates' incumbents may charge for
interconnection with or use of their networks."

     The filing  also states that "First, the stay already imperils -- and if left intact, would
wholly undermine -- Congress's strict timetable for ensuring expeditious competition in those
markets under the Commission's nationally uniform rules. . . .If the stay is left intact,
resolution of those [methodological] disputes would require prolonged, piecemeal litigation in
disparate forums throughout the United States.  Moreover, if some state commissions adopt a
historical cost approach rather than a forward-looking cost approach (as the incumbent
telephone companies hope), the introduction of competition into local markets would be
delayed or frustrated, to the detriment of the general public and the federal statutory purpose. 
Finally, the stay draws into question not just the timing of competition in the local market,
but also the timing of full entry by the Bell operating Companies into the long-distance
telephone market."  

  -FCC-