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If you need the complete document, download the WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available. ***************************************************************** DA 97-880 Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) Computer III Remand ) CC Docket No. 90-623 Proceedings: Bell Operating ) Company Safeguards and ) Tier 1 Local Exchange Company ) Safeguards ) ) Computer III Further Remand ) CC Docket No. 95-20 Proceedings: Bell Operating ) Company Provision of ) Enhanced Services ) ) ORDER Adopted: May 14, 1997 Released: May 14, 1997 By the Chief, Policy and Program Planning Division: I. INTRODUCTION 1. On March 6, 1992, the Association of Telemessaging Services International, Inc. (ATSI) filed a petition for reconsideration of the BOC Safeguards Order in CC Docket No. 90- 623, the Computer III Remand proceeding. On December 10, 1996, ATSI filed a motion to withdraw its petition for reconsideration in CC Docket No. 90-623 and to incorporate it into the Commission's Computer III Further Remand proceeding in CC Docket No. 95-20, as well as other proceedings. In its motion, ATSI states that the issues raised in its pending petition for reconsideration have applicability in these proceedings and, therefore, it is appropriate for the Commission to incorporate ATSI's petition for reconsideration of the BOC Safeguards Orderinto these proceedings. 2. We find it appropriate to incorporate ATSI's petition into the Computer III Further Remand proceeding, but not into the other proceedings, for the reasons discussed below. We therefore grant ATSI's motion to withdraw its petition for reconsideration of the BOC Safeguards Order in CC Docket No. 90-623, the Computer III Remand proceeding, and to incorporate the petition in CC Docket No. 95-20, the Computer III Further Remand proceeding. We deny ATSI's motion to incorporate this same petition for reconsideration in the Non- Accounting Safeguards proceeding in CC Docket No. 96-149, or the Telemessaging, Electronic Publishing, and Alarm Monitoring Services proceeding in CC Docket No. 96-152. II. DISCUSSION 3. In the Computer III proceeding, the Commission adopted a regulatory framework that permits the Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) to provide enhanced services on an integrated basis pursuant to safeguards designed to protect against anticompetitive behavior by the BOCs. In the BOC Safeguards Order, the Commission revised the nonstructural safeguards that the Commission previously had adopted in the Computer III proceeding for the provision of enhanced services by the BOCs. Among other things, the Commission concluded in the BOC Safeguards Order that the BOCs may continue to engage in joint marketing of basic and enhanced services when they provide these services on an integrated basis subject to the nonstructural safeguards established in that order. 4. In its March 1992 petition for reconsideration, ATSI argues that the BOC Safeguards Order should be modified to prohibit the BOCs from joint marketing basic and enhanced services. In November 1994, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit remanded the BOC Safeguards Order to the Commission; in response, the Commission initiated a proceeding on remand in February 1995. The Computer III Further Remandproceeding sought comment on, among other things, whether structural separation should be reimposed for some or all BOC enhanced services. 5. In February 1996, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 became law. Section 272 of the Act requires the BOCs to provide interLATA services, including interLATA information services, through a separate affiliate. Section 272 also sets forth joint marketing rules applicable to the BOCs' provision of interLATA services. Also, under section 274 of the Act, BOCs providing electronic publishing services on an inter- or intraLATA basis must do so pursuant to a section 274 affiliate and subject to the joint marketing rules in that section. Therefore, we find that the joint marketing issue raised in ATSI's petition has been rendered moot by the Act with respect to the services covered by sections 272 and 274. 6. Since ATSI's petition also applies to information services not covered by sections 272 or 274 of the Act, such as intraLATA information services (excluding intraLATA electronic publishing services), those issues are properly considered in the Commission's Computer III Further Remand proceeding. Therefore, we will incorporate the ATSI petition into that proceeding. III. ORDERING CLAUSES 7. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to sections 4(i) and (j) of the Communications Act, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  154(i) and (j), and sections 0.201-0.204 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.201-0.204, that the motion filed by ATSI on December 10, 1996, IS GRANTED to the extent indicated above and otherwise IS DENIED. 8. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the ATSI petition for reconsideration is withdrawn in CC Docket No. 90-263, and is incorporated into the Commission's Computer III Further Remand proceeding in CC Docket No. 95-20. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Richard K. Welch Chief, Policy and Program Planning Division Common Carrier Bureau