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

 In the Matter of                 )
                                  )
  NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS          )
 ASSOCIATION, INC.,               )
                                  )
             Complainant,         )
                                     )           
                        v.      )                File No. E-93-70
                                  )
 AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH )
 COMPANY,                         )
                                  )
            Defendant.            )
                                  )


                    ORDER ON RECONSIDERATION


    Adopted:  December 17, 1996 Released:  December 18, 1996

By the Chief, Formal Complaints and Investigations Branch, Enforcement Division, Common
Carrier Bureau:

      1.  On November 21, 1996, we adopted and released an order in the above-referenced
matter.  In that order, we dismissed with prejudice a complaint filed by the National
Communications Association, Inc. (NCA) against the American Telephone and Telegraph Company
(AT&T), and terminated the proceeding.  The Dismissal Order was issued in response to a letter
request filed by NCA asking the Commission to dismiss its complaint without prejudice.  In its
letter, NCA stated that it was requesting the dismissal in order to consolidate the dispute at issue in
its complaint with a related civil action pending before the United States District Court for the
Southern District of New York (District Court).  Based on the information contained in NCA's
request, we agreed with NCA that dismissing the complaint was appropriate, but concluded that
NCA had not sufficiently demonstrated in its letter that dismissal of its complaint without prejudice
would serve the public interest.  Therefore, NCA's complaint was dismissed with prejudice.

      2.On November 27, 1996, NCA filed a letter with us on behalf of itself and AT&T
requesting reconsideration of the Dismissal Order.  According to the letter, NCA and AT&T have
agreed that the issues in the complaint should be resolved in the District Court's pending civil action. 
Moreover, they claim, "they have no intention of re-filing the complaint before the Commission." 
They contend, however, that an order dismissing the complaint with prejudice will "most likely be
viewed by the District Court as a final disposition [by the Commission] on the merits" of the
complaint, thereby depriving the District Court of jurisdiction over the issues formerly before the
Commission.  Such an outcome, they claim, will frustrate the goal of the parties and the District
Court to ensure that all issues are consolidated and resolved on the merits in the civil action pending
before the District Court.  

      3. We conclude that NCA and AT&T present sufficient grounds for us to reconsider our
Dismissal Order.  They have demonstrated that it is in the public interest that the issues in this
proceeding be consolidated with the related civil matter that is before the District Court, and that our
dismissing the above-captioned complaint without prejudice is the most efficient means of effecting
consolidation of the issues.  For these reasons, we grant the parties' reconsideration request, subject
to the condition that neither party may re-file this matter with the Commission.

      4.  Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Sections 1, 4(i), 4(j), and 208 of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  151, 154(i), 154(j), 208, and the authority
delegated in Sections 0.291 and 1.106 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.291, 1.106, that the
request filed by the National Communications Association for reconsideration of the order
dismissing the above-captioned complaint with prejudice IS GRANTED to the extent indicated
herein.

      5.  IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the above-captioned complaint IS DISMISSED
WITHOUT PREJUDICE and this proceeding IS TERMINATED.

                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION



                         Kurt A. Schroeder
                         Chief, Formal Complaints and
     Investigations Branch
                         Enforcement Division
     Common Carrier Bureau