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

MoKan Dial, Inc.                     )
                                     )
Petitions for Waiver of the          )           NSD File No. 97-87
Four-Digit Carrier Identification Code (CIC))
Implementation Schedule              )

                                   ORDER


Adopted:  January 7, 1998                          Released:   January 8, 1998


By the Chief, Network Services Division, Common Carrier Bureau:


                             I.  INTRODUCTION

  1.   Carrier identification codes (CICs) are numeric codes that enable local
exchange carriers (LECs) providing interstate interexchange access services to identify the
interstate interexchange carrier (IXC) that the originating caller wishes to use to transmit its
interstate call.  LECs use the CICs to route traffic to the proper IXC and to bill for the
interstate access service provided.  CICs facilitate competition by enabling callers to use the
services of telecommunications service providers either by presubscription or by dialing a
carrier access code, or CAC, which incorporates the carrier's unique Feature Group D CIC. 
Originally, CICs were unique three-digit codes (XXX) and CACs were five-digit codes
incorporating the CIC (10XXX).

  2.   On April 11, 1997, in the CICs Second Report and Order, the Commission
approved an industry plan to expand Feature Group D CICs from three to four digits on the
ground that it was a reasonable method of meeting future demand for CICs as the supply of
three-digit codes was exhausted.  The industry agreed that as the expansion from three to
four-digit CICs occurred, and as carriers replaced their five-digit CACs with seven-digit
CACs, a transition, or permissive dialing period, was needed.  The industry, however, was
unable to agree on the length of the transition.  In its 1994 CICs NPRM, the Commission
proposed a six-year period.  In the CICs Second Report and Order, however, because of the
rapidly depleting pool of available three-digit CICs, the Commission decided to end the
transition on January 1, 1998.  The Commission also denied requests to "grandfather" (i.e.,
to permit carriers to continue to use) previously assigned three-digit CICs that are in use at
the end of the transition.  The Commission's decisions were intended to advance the pro-
competitive objectives of the Communications Act of 1934 (the Communications Act or the
Act), as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (1996 Act).

  3.   On October 22, 1997, in the CICs Order on Reconsideration, the
Commission modified the decision in the CICs Second Report and Order regarding the length
of the transition during which three and four-digit Feature Group D CICs co-exist, and
created a "two-step" end to the transition to four-digit CICs.  Under the CICs Order on
Reconsideration, all LECs that provide equal access must have completed switch changes to
recognize four-digit CICs by January 1, 1998, the end of the first phase.  The second phase,
which ends on June 30, 1998, is intended to allow interexchange carriers time to prepare
their networks for, and educate their customers about, the replacement of three-digit CICs by
four-digit CICs.  After June 30, 1998, only four-digit CICs and seven-digit CACs will be
recognized.  The Commission also affirmed its decision in the CICs Second Report and
Order not to grandfather the use of three-digit CICs and five-digit CACs that are in use
during the transition.

  4.   In response to several small LECs' petitions for waiver of the CICs Second
Report and Order's January 1, 1998 conversion deadline, on December 3, 1997, December
15, 1997, December 24, 1997, and December 31, 1997, the Network Services Division
(Division) of the Commission's Common Carrier Bureau (Bureau) granted extensions of the
conversion deadline.  We have received one additional request for waiver, from MoKan
Dial, Inc. (MoKan), which we address here.  In this Order, for the reasons discussed
below, we conclude that the request of MoKan should be granted, by extending for it the
switch conversion deadline for four-digit CIC capability for the time period requested, until
June 30, 1998.                             II.   DISCUSSION

  5.   The Commission may waive any provision of its rules, in whole or in part, if
good cause is shown.  An applicant for waiver must demonstrate that special circumstances
warrant a deviation from the general rule and that such deviation will serve the public
interest.  In the First CICs Waiver Order, we stated the factors we weighed in evaluating
each petition for waiver: the LEC's diligence in upgrading its switches; the availability from
manufacturers of products required to accomplish the upgrade; and the impact of an
extension of the conversion deadline on the IXCs served by the LEC's switches and on
customers' ability to reach IXCs through CAC dialing.  In the Second CICs Waiver Order,
the Third CICs Waiver Order, and the Fourth CICs Waiver Order, we weighed the same
factors in evaluating the petitions before us.  We do the same in evaluating MoKan's request.

  6.   We find that the request for waiver filed by MoKan demonstrates the special
circumstances meriting a waiver of the January 1, 1998 conversion deadline.  First, MoKan
has demonstrated that it is diligently working to upgrade its switches.  MoKan asserts that it
has been discussing hardware and software options and proposals with Nortel since July,
1997.  MoKan asserts that it has resolved most hardware and software issues and is
relatively close to completing pricing and financing issues.  MoKan expects to conclude
negotiations and enter into purchase agreements early in 1998.  MoKan also asserts that the
hardware it must purchase for two of its four exchanges can be delivered and installed within
three months after purchase agreements are finalized.  MoKan expects that all hardware and
software can be installed, tested, and made ready for commercial operation no later than June
30, 1998.

  7.   Second, based on its petition, we conclude that MoKan has demonstrated that
the product needed to accomplish the upgrade is not readily available from switch
manufacturers, which has delayed MoKan's ability to meet the January 1, 1998 conversion
deadline.  MoKan asserts that two of its four exchanges are required to deploy long-term
database methods for local number portability by June 30, 1998, and that the Kansas
Corporation Commission has required that for one of its exchanges, MoKan implement
interchangeable numbering plan areas by October 1998.  MoKan has determined that it
would be most practicable, economical, and efficient to upgrade the operating system
software for all four of its exchanges in one step to accommodate all the required CIC and
other numbering changes.   Because of the additional costs and malfunction risks that
MoKan asserts it would be forced to incur to seek to upgrade it switches to four-digit CIC
capability by January 1, 1998, instead of accomplishing the upgrade in connection with the
other numbering changes, MoKan has demonstrated that the product is effectively
"unavailable" to upgrade to four-digit CIC capability by January 1, 1998.

  8.   Third, we conclude that the impact of an extension of the conversion deadline
on the IXCs served by MoKan, and on the ability of MoKan's customers to reach IXCs
through CAC dialing, does not outweigh the burden on MoKan that would be imposed by a
denial of its petition for waiver.  MoKan serves four exchanges with a total of only
approximately 3,720 access lines.  MoKan has requested an extension until June 30, 1998. 
Accordingly, the grant of its requested waiver will not affect or interfere with the end of the
permissive dialing period on June 30, 1998.

  9.   We recognize that the grant of this extension to MoKan will eliminate the time
we provided for IXCs to prepare their networks and to educate their customers, in creating a
two-step transition in our Order on Reconsideration.  We find, however, that the technical
and economic burden on MoKan that would be imposed by a denial of the extension
outweighs the burden to the IXCs and their customers.  The economic burdens imposed by a
denial of the extension would be borne by MoKan's customers.  We note, moreover, that
only IXCs that have been issued a four-digit CIC (who cannot currently receive CAC calls
originating with MoKan's customers) will be affected by the grant of this waiver.  MoKan's
network can, and will continue to, accept CAC calling for IXCs with three-digit CICs until
the transition ends on June 30, 1998.  Although we recognize the potential anticompetitive
effects of the dialing disparity and seek to minimize them, we believe that those effects are
outweighed by the economic and technical burdens likely to be imposed on MoKan by a
failure to extend the conversion deadline for it.  Thus, on balance, we find that the impact of
an extension of the conversion deadline on the IXCs served by MoKan, and on the ability of
MoKan's customers to reach IXCs through CAC dialing, does not outweigh the burden on
MoKan that would be imposed by a denial of the extension request.

  10.  We note that the CICs Order on Reconsideration, in addition to requiring four-
digit CIC conversion by equal access LECs as of January 1, 1998, also requires that LECs
must offer a standard intercept message beginning on or before June 30, 1998, explaining
that a dialing pattern change has occurred and instructing the caller to contact its IXC for
further information.  The Commission requires that, in developing an intercept message,
LECs must consult with IXCs and reach agreement on the content of the message and on the
period of time during which the message will be provided.  We emphasize that MoKan
must comply with the Commission's intercept message requirement.


                           IV.  ORDERING CLAUSES

  11.  IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Section 1.3 of the Commission's rules, 47
C.F.R.  1.3, and authority delegated in Section 0.91 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.
  0.91, and Section 0.291 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.   0.291, that the Request
for Waiver of MoKan Dial, Inc., IS GRANTED, by extending for it the switch conversion
deadline for four-digit CIC capability until June 30, 1998.
       



       FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION


       Geraldine A. Matise
       Chief, Network Services Division
       Common Carrier Bureau