Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) Implementation of the ) Pay Telephone Reclassification ) CC Docket No. 96-128 and Compensation Provisions of the ) Telecommunications Act of 1996 ) ) Southern New England Telephone ) SNET Request to Extend Limited Waiver ) of Coding Digit Requirement ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: October 1, 1998 Released: October 1, 1998 By the Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau: I. INTRODUCTION 1. In this order we grant to Southern New England Telephone ("SNET") a further temporary waiver of certain requirements established in the Payphone Orders relating to the provision of payphone-specific coding digits. This waiver extends the limited waiver originally granted SNET in the Bureau Coding Digit Waiver Order. An extension is requested because of a work stoppage involving SNET's personnel. 2. We grant SNET's request in part and extend until October 31, 1998, the former September 30, 1998, deadline for SNET to have installed the required coding digits for seventy-five percent of the smart payphones in its service area. We grant this waiver because we find that special circumstances exist, in the form of delays caused by the SNET work stoppage, over which SNET did not have sole control, and that granting this waiver will promote the public interest. II. BACKGROUND 3. In the Payphone Orders, the Commission imposed a requirement that LECs provide payphone-specific coding digits to payphone service providers (PSPs), and that PSPs provide those digits from their payphones to interexchange carriers (IXCs). The provision of payphone-specific coding digits is a prerequisite to payphone compensation payments by IXCs to PSPs for subscriber 800 and access code calls. 4. On March 9, 1998, in the Bureau Coding Digit Waiver Order, the Bureau clarified the requirements established in the Payphone Orders for the provision of payphone-specific coding digits by LECs and PSPs to IXCs. Specifically, the Bureau clarified that flexible automatic numbering identification ("FLEX ANI") and automatic number information indicators ("ANI ii") are the methods to provide payphone-specific coding digits that comply with the requirements of the Payphone Orders. The Bureau also granted limited waivers to LECs, PSPs, and IXCs to facilitate the transition to per-call compensation. In particular, in the Bureau Coding Digit Waiver Order the Bureau granted a waiver to SNET, until September 30, 1998, to resolve certain technical problems in order to provide FLEX ANI to seventy-five percent of the smart payphones in its service area. 5. On September 8, 1998, SNET filed a petition stating that a work stoppage that began on August 23, 1998, had rendered SNET unable to meet the September 30, 1998 deadline. SNET petitioned the Commission to extend the September 30, 1998 deadline until twelve weeks after the work stoppage terminates. Subsequently, SNET informed the Commission that the work stoppage ended on September 18, 1998. III. DISCUSSION 6. Waiver of the Commission's rules is appropriate only if special circumstances warrant a deviation from the general rule, and such a deviation will serve the public interest. The limited waiver we grant in this order meets both criteria. 7. The work stoppage SNET describes in its petition is a unique and special circumstance, and an event not solely within SNET's control. The work stoppage rendered key SNET staff unavailable to complete the FLEX ANI work on schedule. In a March 2, 1998, letter to the Commission, SNET cited the complexities it was encountering in implementing FLEX ANI. In the March 9, 1998 Bureau Coding Digit Waiver Order, the Bureau took note of these and other complexities. Other LECs also have raised implementation problems, to which the Bureau has responded. SNET states that, despite these complexities, before the work stoppage, SNET was on schedule to complete the work by September 30, 1998. 8. The waiver granted herein is also in the public interest. The waiver will promote the policies of the Payphone Orders by giving SNET sufficient time to fulfill the requirements of this stage of installing FLEX ANI. The waiver also will help ensure that payphone compensation payments to PSPs are not disrupted due to a work stoppage. 9. SNET requested that the waiver be extended until twelve weeks after the end of the work stoppage, to permit SNET sufficient time to recover from the work stoppage. That date would be December 18, 1998. Taking into account the length of the work stoppage, as well as the urgency expressed by Congress in Section 276 to implement payphone compensation, we conclude that a twelve-week extension would be excessive. We note that the outside date granted in the Bureau Coding Digit Waiver Order for all large LECs to have installed coding digits for all of the smart payphones in their service areas is December 31, 1998. If SNET is to meet that deadline, it will need to provide coverage of seventy-five percent of the smart payphones in its service areas considerably earlier than December 18. 10. We therefore extend SNET's September 30, 1998, deadline by one month, the approximate length of the work stoppage, or until October 31, 1998. In light of SNET's representations that it was on schedule to meet its September 30, 1998 deadline until the occurrence of the work stoppage, we expect that SNET should be able to meet this deadline and that no additional extensions will be necessary. 11. The limited waiver we grant herein applies to the requirement that, with respect to the technical problems for which the limited waivers are granted: (1) SNET provide payphone- specific coding digits to PSPs; and that (2) PSPs provide payphone-specific coding digits from their payphones in order to receive compensation. We also condition this waiver as we conditioned the waivers for these technical problems in the Bureau Coding Digit Waiver Order. 12. As in the Bureau Coding Digit Order, we distinguish in this case between the requirement to provide payphone-specific coding digits and the requirement to pay payphone per- call compensation. IXCs must pay payphone compensation for payphone calls affected by this waiver as required in the Bureau Coding Digit Waiver Order and the Per-phone Compensation Order. Compensation for the calls in question can be paid by IXCs to PSPs through the use of LEC-provided ANI lists on a per-call basis or on a per-phone basis as set forth in the Per-phone Compensation Waiver Order. IV. CONCLUSION 13. In this order, we grant a temporary waiver, until October 31, 1998, for the implementation of payphone-specific coding digits requirements deadline set by the Bureau Coding Digit Waiver Order for SNET to provide payphone-specific coding digits to seventy-five percent of the smart payphones in SNET's service area. We conclude that this temporary waiver granted herein to SNET will serve the public interest to facilitate the transition to per-call compensation. We find that the special circumstances with regard to the work stoppage problems identified by SNET are consistent with Section 276 and are in the public interest. V. ORDERING CLAUSES 14. Accordingly, pursuant to authority contained in Sections 1, 4, 201-205, 218, 226, and 276 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  151, 154, 201-205, 218, 226, and 276, and the authority delegated pursuant to Sections 0.91, 0.291 and 1.3 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.91, 0.291 and 1.3, IT IS ORDERED that the waiver extension IS GRANTED to the extent described herein, and otherwise DENIED. 15. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this order is effective immediately upon release thereof, and that the waiver included in this order is effective October 1, 1998. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Lawrence E. Strickling Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau