******************************************************** NOTICE ******************************************************** This document was converted from WordPerfect to ASCII Text format. Content from the original version of the document such as headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, graphics, and page numbers will not show up in this text version. All text attributes such as bold, italic, underlining, etc. from the original document will not show up in this text version. Features of the original document layout such as columns, tables, line and letter spacing, pagination, and margins will not be preserved in the text version. If you need the complete document, download the WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available. ***************************************************************** Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) Radcliffe Telephone Company, Inc. Request) NSD File No. 98-79 for Extension of Waiver of the Four-Digit) Carrier Identification Code (CIC) ) Implementation Schedule ) ) ) ORDER Adopted: June 23, 1998 Released: June 23, 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 (CAC) which incorporates that 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 and the industry agreed to expand Feature Group D CICs from three to four digits 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. On October 22, 1997, in the CICs Order on Reconsideration, the Commission created a "two-step" transition during which three and four-digit Feature Group D CICs co-exist. The CICs Order on Reconsideration mandated that all LECs providing equal access complete 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. 3. Radcliffe Telephone Company, Inc. (Radcliffe), a small LEC serving areas of Iowa, filed a petition for waiver of the CICs Second Report and Order's January 1, 1998, conversion deadline. Stating that it was technically infeasible for it to comply with the January 1, 1998, conversion deadline, Radcliffe requested an extension until June 30, 1998. In an Order released December 24, 1997, we found that Radcliffe had demonstrated the special circumstances meriting a waiver of the January 1, 1998, conversion deadline and we granted Radcliffe's request for extension of the deadline until June 30, 1998. 4. Radcliffe has filed a request to extend its waiver of the conversion deadline from June 30, 1998 until August 31, 1998. In this Order, we conclude that Radcliffe's request should be granted and we extend Radcliffe's switch conversion deadline for four-digit CIC capability until August 31, 1998. II. DISCUSSION 5. 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 evaluating Radcliffe's request for extension of its waiver, we have weighed the following factors: Radcliffe's diligence in attempting to upgrade its switches within the time frame provided under the original waiver; the impact of availability of products required to accomplish the upgrade on Radcliffe's ability to meet the original waiver deadline; and the impact of an extension of the conversion deadline on the IXCs served by Radcliffe's switches and on customers' ability to reach IXCs through CAC dialing. 6. We find that the request for extension of waiver filed by Radcliffe demonstrates the special circumstances meriting a grant of the extension. Radcliffe has diligently worked to replace its switches by the June 30, 1998, deadline. As stated in our Third CICs Waiver Order, we note that Radcliffe uses a centralized equal access service provided by Iowa Network Services (INS). Radcliffe learned in early November 1997, that it would not be able to use the INS centralized switching system to become four-digit CIC compliant, since Radcliffe did not have SS7 capability. Therefore, Radcliffe entered into negotiations with Northern Telecom (Nortel) for an interim software upgrade which would allow its switches to accommodate four-digit CICs by June 30, 1998, the date requested in its original waiver request. Upon further review, Radcliffe, Nortel, and INS concluded that it would be more technically sound and cost efficient for Radcliffe to install a new Nortel DMS 10 remote switch using the INS DMS 100 as its host, rather than implementing an interim software upgrade to its current DMS 10, as proposed in the initial waiver request. Radcliffe asserts that the interim software upgrade would cost $12,000 and states that the upgraded software would have to be replaced within a few months with a new switch. Although the additional delay in Radcliffe's ability to meet the requirements of the CICs Second Report and Order and the CICs Order on Reconsideration stems from its decision to replace, rather than upgrade, its switching equipment, we find that Radcliffe is diligently working to bring its network into compliance with the four-digit CIC capability requirement in the most efficient way possible. 7. Second, we conclude that Radcliffe has demonstrated that the products needed to accomplish the upgrade of its network are not readily available from switch manufacturers and that this fact has significantly affected its ability to meet the June 30, 1998, deadline. In its petition for extension of its waiver until August 31, 1998, Radcliffe states that Nortel and INS have determined that a host/remote configuration with Radcliffe implementing a new DMS 10 remote would achieve the necessary network change to allow four-digit CIC capability. Nortel proposes to complete switch installation on August 10, 1998. Because Nortel cannot complete switch installation until August 10, 1998, and that date does not include time for post turn-key testing, we find reasonable Radcliffe's request that a waiver extension be granted until August 31, 1998. 8. Third, we find that the impact of a further extension of the conversion deadline on the IXCs and customers served by Radcliffe does not outweigh the burden on Radcliffe that would be imposed by a denial of its request for further extension. We recognize that the grant of Radcliffe's extension will eliminate the time we provided for IXCs to prepare their networks and to educate their customers, as anticipated by the two-step transition created in our Order on Reconsideration. We find, however, that the technical and economic burden on Radcliffe that would be imposed by a denial of the extension outweighs the burden to the IXCs and their customers. Radcliffe serves only approximately 515 access lines. We note Radcliffe's network can, and will continue to, accept CAC calling for IXCs with three-digit CICs until the transition ends on June 30, 1998. Because Radcliffe's network will not accept four-digit CICs until August 31, 1998, CAC calling will not be available to IXCs operating in Radcliffe's service territory and their customers from June 30, 1998, until August 31, 1998. Although we recognize the adverse impacts on IXCs and their customers, given the small number of access lines affected, those adverse impacts are outweighed by the burden that would be imposed on Radcliffe by requiring it to install interim software that would have to be replaced within a few months, at an expense of $12,000 to the company. 9. We cannot ignore, however, the difficulties that the IXCs served by Radcliffe will experience in educating their customers about the forthcoming changes in dialing patterns, and the inability of these IXCs' customers to reach them through CAC dialing after the transition ends on June 30, 1998. We, therefore, condition our grant of Radcliffe's request to extend its switch conversion deadline to August 31, 1998. As of June 30, 1998, IXCs will have converted from three-digit CICs to four digits and from five-digit CACs to seven digits. Thus, IXCs will expect their customers to be able to reach them by dialing seven-digit CACs. Their customers will have the same expectation. Radcliffe will not be able to meet those expectations. Therefore, we require that, beginning on June 30, 1998, in its intercept message, Radcliffe indicate that callers will not be able to reach their long distance carriers through access code dialing until September 1, 1998. This intercept message should help minimize disruption to the IXCs served by Radcliffe, and to those IXCs' customers trying to reach the area served by Radcliffe by CAC dialing between June 30, 1998, and the expiration of Radcliffe's waiver extension on August 31, 1998. We also require that Radcliffe provide the same notification in bill inserts to customers. 10. In addition, because we grant Radcliffe an extension beyond the end of the permissive dialing period, we impose an additional requirement on Radcliffe to assist the Bureau in monitoring Radcliffe's diligence in converting to four-digit CIC capability by August 31, 1998, the expiration of its waiver extension. Specifically, Radcliffe must file a report with the Network Services Division of the Common Carrier Bureau, on September 8, 1998, confirming that the switch was installed and began providing four-digit CIC capability by August 31, 1998. The report should contain information including, but not limited to, an affidavit from an engineer confirming installation of the new Nortel DMS 10 remote switch and its compliance with the Commission's requirement that the switch recognize four-digit CICs. We believe that such a reporting condition is necessary to ensure that Radcliffe complies with the Commission's four-digit CIC conversion requirement in a manner consistent with the public interest. We will scrutinize closely any request for further extension and will only grant an extension of a prior waiver upon a clear demonstration of compelling circumstances. III. ORDERING CLAUSE 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 Petition of Radcliffe Telephone Company for Extension of Time Granted in Prior Waiver, IS GRANTED, by extending for it the switch conversion deadline for four-digit CIC capability until August 31, 1998, subject to the conditions stated herein. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Geraldine A. Matise Chief, Network Services Division Common Carrier Bureau