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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 Implementation of the Subscriber Carrier Selection Changes Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 CenturyTel of Central Wisconsin, LLC GTE North Inc. Petition for Waiver ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) CC Docket No. 94-129 ORDER Adopted: July 27, 2000 Released: July 28, 2000 By the Chief, Accounting Policy Division, 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 CenturyTel of Central Wisconsin, LLC (CenturyTel) a limited waiver of the authorization and verification requirements of the Commission's rules and Carrier Change Orders. We grant this limited waiver to the extent necessary to enable CenturyTel to become the preferred carrier of consumers currently presubscribed to GTE, without first obtaining the consumers' authorization and verification. 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," 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 preferred carrier. The Commission requires that carriers follow one of the Commission's prescribed verification procedures before submitting carrier changes on behalf of consumers. 3. CenturyTel seeks a waiver of the Commission's verification rules to allow CenturyTel to be designated the preferred local and intraLATA toll carrier for customers of GTE without first obtaining each customer's authorization and verification. Because we conclude that, under the circumstances presented, it is in the public interest to do so, we grant CenturyTel a waiver, subject to the conditions represented in its filings. II. DISCUSSION 4. Generally, the Commission's rules may be waived for good cause shown. As noted by the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, however, agency rules are presumed valid. The Commission may exercise its discretion to waive a rule where the particular facts make strict compliance inconsistent with the public interest. In addition, the Commission may take into account considerations of hardship, equity, or more effective implementation of overall policy on an individual basis. Waiver of the Commission's rules is therefore appropriate only if special circumstances warrant a deviation from the general rule, and such a deviation will serve the public interest. 5. We find that CenturyTel has demonstrated that good cause exists to justify a limited waiver of the Commission's authorization and verification requirements to the extent necessary to enable CenturyTel to transfer to its own customer base the affected GTE customers. In the Waiver Petition, CenturyTel states that it is purchasing 42 GTE local exchanges containing lines located in Wisconsin. CenturyTel will acquire substantially all of GTE's assets used to provide local and intraLATA toll telecommunications services to those exchanges, including the customer base. CenturyTel will provide local and intrastate services on a presubscription basis to GTE's former customers. 6. We conclude that special circumstances exist to justify a waiver. Without this waiver, some former GTE customers might temporarily lose service when GTE ceases to provide service in the affected exchanges. We conclude that a waiver of the Commission's carrier change rules and orders is necessary to provide a seamless transition with no disruption of service to the transferred customers. 7. We find that CenturyTel has demonstrated that a limited waiver of the authorization and verification rules is in the public interest because it will prevent consumers from temporarily losing service, and because CenturyTel has agreed to notify the affected customers as described below. CenturyTel states that it will undertake a two-step process to notify the affected customers of the transaction, with GTE sending separate notification letters pursuant to its application to sell exchanges under 47 U.S.C.  214. In a first letter, CenturyTel will inform customers of the proposed transaction, and assure them that no charges or rate increases for intraLATA toll service will be imposed as a result of the transaction. CenturyTel states that it will also advise the affected customers that they can choose a different preferred carrier, where available, should they desire to do so. In addition, customers will be given a toll-free number to call with any questions they may have about the transition. According to CenturyTel, once the proposed sale has been consummated, CenturyTel will notify these customers of that event through a welcome letter, reiterating the foregoing information, assurances, and advice. We conclude that these conditions will adequately protect the rights of the transferred customers of GTE. 8. For the foregoing reasons, we grant CenturyTel 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 CenturyTel's provision of customer notification, as described above and further detailed in the Waiver Petition and Supplement. III. ORDERING CLAUSES 9. 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 0.91, 0.291, and 1.3 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.91, 0.291, 1.3, the waiver request filed by CenturyTel of Central Wisconsin, LLC on May 11, 2000, and supplemented on June 14, 2000, IS GRANTED to the extent indicated herein. 10. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this Order is effective upon release. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Irene M. Flannery Chief, Accounting Policy Division, Common Carrier Bureau