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    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:             NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
  August 10, 2000                         Michael Balmoris 202-418-0253
                                Email:    mbalmori@fcc.gov
  
 FCC STRENGTHENS RULES DESIGNED TO GIVE COMPETITORS ACCESS
          TO INCUMBENT PHONE COMPANIES' NETWORKS 
  
  Washington, D.C.   Today, the Federal Communications Commission
  (Commission) clarified collocation rules that were implemented last year by adopting
  time frames for the implementation of collocation provisioning.  In a collocation
  arrangement, a competitor leases space at an incumbent local exchange carrier's (LEC's)
  premises for its equipment.  Collocation rules are intended to ensure that multiple,
  competing providers are able to offer voice and advanced data telecommunications
  services, which, in turn, should bring more choices, lower prices, and increased
  innovation to consumers.
  The Order on Reconsideration (Order) adopted today takes immediate steps to
  ensure that competitors can obtain collocation in a timely and efficient manner.  In
  particular, the Order requires an incumbent LEC to provide physical collocation,
  including cageless collocation, no later than 90 calendar days after receiving a collocation
  request (except where a state sets its own standard or a requesting carrier and an
  incumbent LEC agree to an alternate standard).  The Order also requires an incumbent
  LEC to allow a competing LEC to construct adjacent structures on land owned or
  controlled by the incumbent LEC to the extent physical collocation space is exhausted in
  a particular incumbent LEC structure.
   
       Additionally, the Commission adopted a Second Further Notice of Proposed
  Rulemaking (Second Further Notice) in CC Docket No. 98-147 that responds to the D.C.
  Circuit's recent opinion in GTE v. FCC, which affirmed the Commission's collocation
  rules issued last year in several important respects, but vacated and remanded for further
  consideration certain aspects of those rules.  The Second Further Notice invites comment
  on the remanded issues as well as on other collocation-related issues important to local
  competition.  These include the meaning of "necessary" and "physical collocation," issues
  relating to what equipment an incumbent must allow a competitive LEC to physically
  collocate, and how physical collocation space should be assigned.  The Second Further
  Notice also asks for comment on issues relating to collocation at remote incumbent LEC
  premises.
  The Commission also adopted a Fifth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in
  CC Docket No. 96-98, inviting comment on whether the Commission's local competition
  rules should be modified or clarified, particularly those applying to the transport, loop,
  and subloop elements, in light of the deployment of new network architectures by
  incumbent LECs.
  Action by the Commission August 9, 2000, by Order on Reconsideration and
  Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in CC Docket No. 98-147 and Fifth
  Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in CC Docket No. 96-98 (FCC 00-297). 
  Chairman Kennard and Commissioners Ness, Furchtgott-Roth, Powell, and Tristani.
  
  
                           -FCC-
  
  Common Carrier Bureau Contacts:  William Kehoe or Julie Patterson:  (202) 418-1580
  
News about the Federal Communications Commission can also be found
         on the Commission's web site www.fcc.gov.