PUBLIC NOTICE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 1919 M STREET, N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20554 DA 98-16 News media information 202/418-0500 Fax-On-Demand 202/418-2830 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov ftp.fcc.gov Released: January 6, 1998 Bell Atlantic and the SBC Companies Petition the Commission for Reconsideration in the 1997 Annual Access Tariff Filings CC Docket No. 97-149 Pleading Cycle Established COMMENTS: January 21, 1998 REPLY COMMENTS: January 28, 1998 On December 31, 1997, Bell Atlantic Telephone Companies (Bell Atlantic) and the SBC Companies filed Petitions for Reconsideration requesting the Commission reconsider certain portions of its 1997 Access Order. In its petition Bell Atlantic states that the 1997 Access Order erroneously required it to refund certain common line charges paid by long distance carriers under its 1997 access tariff and that it has not been provided an opportunity to recover its common line costs from other customers that the Commission concluded should have paid them. Bell Atlantic asserts the Commission adopted a requirement that, Bell Atlantic and other local exchange carriers (LECs) must allocate their common line costs between the common line rates paid by long distance carriers and those paid by end users in a specific manner. Bell Atlantic contends that the Commission held that the 1997 tariffs filed by LECs, including the former NYNEX companies, incorrectly allocated too much of their common line costs to the rates paid by long distance carriers and too little to end user rates. It states that, on this conclusion, the Commission ordered refunds in the amount that it determined long distance carriers had overpaid. Bell Atlantic argues, however, that the Commission declined to provide any guidance on how these amounts should be allocated between classes of customers and that the Commission also refused to provide any opportunity to recover these legitimate amounts from the very customers that it concluded should have paid them. Bell Atlantic asserts that the Commission is not only in violation of its own rules and basic principles of administrative law, but is also penalizing the LECs for failing to comply with a requirement it had not yet adopted. Bell Atlantic states that, in addition, the Commission's newly adopted method of allocating common line costs produces results that are less accurate than produced by the method employed by Bell Atlantic. In its petition SBC requests that the Commission reconsider and reverse that portion of its 1997 Access Order which requires the use of an "R" adjustment for the removal of the equal access amortization. It asserts that the appropriate approach for the Commission to pursue with respect to the equal access costs is a rulemaking with notice and comment. Interested parties may file comments on Bell Atlantic's and SBC's petitions no later than January 21, 1998. Replies must be filed by January 28, 1998. When filing comments and/or replies, please reference the internal file number: CCB/CPD 98-1. An original and four copies of all comments and replies must be filed in accordance with Section 1.51(c) of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R.  1.15(c). In addition, one copy of each pleading must be filed with International Transcription Services (ITS), the Commission's duplicating contractor, at its office at 1231 - 20th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 and one copy with the Chief, Competitive Pricing Division, Room 518, 1919 M Street, N.W.,Washington, D.C. 20554. For further information contact, Wanda M. Harris, Competitive Pricing Division, Common Carrier Bureau, (202) 418-1530. - FCC -