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                                               FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                     Washington, D.C. 20554

In the Matter of                             )     
)    
Implementation of the Subscriber Carrier          )
Selection Changes Provisions of the               )    CC Docket No. 94-129     
Telecommunications Act of 1996               )
)    
Iowa Telecommunications Services             )
Petition for Waiver                          )         

                                 
                             ORDER
                                
Adopted:  December 20, 1999                    Released:  December 21, 1999
                                
By the Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau:

                I.  INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

1    In its Carrier Change Orders, the Commission adopted rules applicable to carriers
changing a consumer's preferred carrier.  In this order, we grant Iowa Telecommunications Services, Inc.
(ITS) a limited waiver of the authorization and verification requirements of the Commission's rules and
Carrier Change Orders to enable ITS to change the preferred carrier of those consumers currently
presubscribed to GTE of the Midwest (GTE) to ITS. 

2    Section 258 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended by the Telecommunications
Act of 1996, makes it unlawful for any telecommunications carrier to "submit or execute a change in a
subscriber's selection of a provider of telephone exchange service or telephone toll service except in
accordance with such procedures as the Commission shall prescribe."  The goal of section 258 is to
eliminate the practice of "slamming," which is the unauthorized change of a subscriber's preferred carrier. 
Pursuant to section 258, carriers are absolutely barred from changing a customer's preferred local or long
distance carrier without first complying with the Commission's verification procedures.  In the Section
258 Order, the Commission revised its procedures to ensure that carriers obtain the requisite authority
prior to changing a customer's carrier.  The Commission requires that carriers follow one of the
Commission's prescribed verification procedures before submitting carrier changes on behalf of
subscribers.

3    ITS requests a waiver of our verification rules to allow them to transfer subscribers of
GTE to the ITS customer base without first obtaining each subscriber's authorization and verification.
Because we conclude that, under the circumstances presented, it is in the public interest to do so, we grant 
ITS' Petition for Waiver subject to the conditions represented in their filing.           
                                
                        II.  DISCUSSION

4    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.  We find that ITS has
made a showing of good cause to grant a waiver of the requirements in the Commission's carrier change
rules and orders for those consumers who have authorized GTE as their preferred carrier.  After GTE
announced its plans to exit the local exchange market in Iowa, ITS was formed to acquire GTE's Iowa
operations.  In addition to local exchange service, GTE currently provides interstate intraLATA and
intrastate intraLATA toll services to its customers, and recently implemented intraLATA equal access in
Iowa, in accordance with Commission rules, to give customers the ability to select another intraLATA
carrier.  A significant number of GTE's customers elected to remain presubscribed to GTE for their
interstate intraLATA toll and intrastate intraLATA toll services.  ITS will, therefore, replace GTE as their
interstate intraLATA toll, intrastate intraLATA toll, and local exchange service provider once it obtains
regulatory approval and begins providing these services in Iowa. 

5    We also conclude that ITS has shown that granting this request is in the public interest. 
ITS argues that the Commission's verification rules would not be served by obtaining prior authorization
and verification in order to switch the affected customers of GTE to ITS.  They explain that customers who
may not understand the need to authorize the change in their interstate intraLATA, intrastate intraLATA
and local exchange service provider and who, therefore, fail to respond to a request for authorization, could
lose their service or pay potentially higher rates.  ITS plans to send two notification letters to all of the
affected customers informing them of the transaction.  The first letter will inform customers that their
telephone service provider will be changing; that they are free to change carriers if they are not satisfied
with ITS; and that if they decide to change carriers within thirty days, ITS will waive the $5 change charge. 
The affected customers will also be notified that they will have the same or better rates than those they
received from GTE.  In addition, customers will be given a toll-free number to call with any questions
they may have about the transition.  The second letter will inform customers that their interstate intraLATA
service provider has changed to ITS.  That letter will also reiterate the information that was disclosed in the
first letter.  Finally, ITS has promised to work with GTE to investigate and resolve any outstanding
customer complaints regarding intraLATA services that may have been made against GTE. 

             III.  CONCLUSION AND ORDERING CLAUSES
                                
6    For the foregoing reasons, we grant ITS a waiver of the authorization and verification
requirements of our rules for the limited purposes described above.  The grant of this waiver is conditioned
upon ITS' provision of customer notification and handling of customer complaints as described above and
further detailed in its Waiver Petition.

7    Accordingly, pursuant to authority contained in sections 1, 4, and 258, of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  151, 154, 258, and the authority delegated under
sections 0.111, 0.311, and 1.3 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.111, 0.311, 1.3, the waiver
request filed by Iowa Telecommunications Services on October 8, 1999, IS GRANTED to the extent
indicated herein.


FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION



Robert C. Atkinson
Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau