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                                                           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

Qwest Corporation, All West
Communications, Inc., All West World
Connect, Carbon/Emery Telcom, Inc., Central
Telcom Services, Central Utah Telephone,
Inc., Emery Telcom, Hanksville Telcom, Inc.,
Manti Long Distance, Manti Telephone
Company, Skyline Telecom, UBET Telecom,
Inc., and Uintah Basin Long Distance

Joint Petition for Waiver
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CC Docket No. 94-129






                             ORDER

   Adopted:  December 21, 2000          Released:  December 22, 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 Qwest Corporation (Qwest)
and All West Communications, Inc., All West World Connect, Carbon/Emery Telcom, Inc.,
Central Telcom Services, Central Utah Telephone, Inc., Emery Telcom, Hanksville Telcom, Inc.,
Manti Long Distance, Manti Telephone Company, Skyline Telecom, UBET Telecom, Inc., and
Uintah Basin Long Distance (Acquiring Companies) 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 the Acquiring Companies to become the preferred
carriers of certain consumers currently presubscribed to Qwest in twelve Utah exchanges, 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.     Qwest and the Acquiring Carriers seek a waiver of our verification rules to allow the
Acquiring Carriers to be designated the preferred local carriers for certain customers of Qwest
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 Qwest and the
Acquiring Carriers a waiver, subject to the conditions represented in their 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 Qwest and the Acquiring Carriers have demonstrated that good cause
exists to justify a limited waiver of the Commission's authorization and verification requirements
to the extent necessary to enable the Acquiring Carriers to transfer to their own customer bases
the affected Qwest customers.  In the Waiver Petition, Qwest and the Acquiring Carriers state
that Qwest seeks to delete twelve exchanges containing approximately 35,600 access lines from
its Utah study area and transfer those lines to the twelve Acquiring Carriers, one exchange per
carrier.  The Acquiring Carriers will acquire substantially all of Qwest's assets used to provide
local telecommunications services to those lines, including the affected customer base, and will
provide local services on a presubscription basis to Qwest's former customers.  Qwest and the
Acquiring Carriers further note that some of the Qwest customers may have to change long
distance carriers (intrastate or interstate) if they currently use a carrier not present on the
Acquiring Carriers' switches.  An Acquiring Carrier representative will contact those customers
to coordinate a carrier change at no charge.  
6.     We conclude that special circumstances exist to justify a waiver.  Without this waiver,
some former Qwest customers might temporarily lose their presubscribed local service when
Qwest ceases to provide such 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 local service to the transferred customers.
7.     We find that Qwest and the Acquiring Carriers have demonstrated that a limited
waiver of the authorization and verification rules is in the public interest because it will prevent
consumers from temporarily losing local service, and because Qwest and the Acquiring Carriers
have agreed to notify the affected customers as described below.  Qwest and the Acquiring
Carriers state that a two-step process to notify the affected customers of the transaction has
already begun, with Qwest sending notification letters pursuant to its application requesting
authority under section 214(a) of the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C.  214(a), and
section 63.71 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  63.71, to discontinue operations in the
affected Utah exchanges.  These initial notification letters informed the affected customers that,
after the transfer of service from Qwest to the Acquiring Carriers, they would receive the same
local telephone service with no changes, that they would be free to select new local basic or local
long distance service providers, and that they would be able to contact Qwest free of charge with
any questions regarding the transfer.  
8.     According to Qwest and the Acquiring Carriers, once the proposed sale has been
consummated, the Acquiring Carriers will send these customers a "welcome letter" notifying them
of that event and assuring them that no charges or rate increases for local service will be imposed
as a result of the transaction.  The welcome letters will also state that the Acquiring Companies
will pay any charges associated with a single carrier change made by the customer during a period
of two billing cycles after the welcome letter.  In the welcome letters, the Acquiring Carriers will
advise the affected customers that the transfer of their local service may require them to change
their intra-state and/or interstate long distance carrier if those carriers are not present on an
Acquiring Carrier's switch.  In the letter, the Acquiring Carriers will also promise that one of their
representatives will call each customer in that situation to coordinate a switch to another long
distance carrier at no charge.  In addition, the welcome letter will provide customers with a toll-
free number to call with any questions they may have about the transition.  We conclude that
these conditions will adequately protect the rights of Qwest's transferred customers.
9.     For the foregoing reasons, we grant Qwest and the Acquiring Carriers 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 Qwest's and the Acquiring Carriers' provision of
customer notification, as described above and further detailed in the Waiver Petition and
Supplement.  
                     III.  ORDERING CLAUSES

10.    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 joint waiver request filed by Qwest Corporation and All West Communications, Inc., All
West World Connect, Carbon/Emery Telcom, Inc., Central Telcom Services, Central Utah
Telephone, Inc., Emery Telcom, Hanksville Telcom, Inc., Manti Long Distance, Manti Telephone
Company, Skyline Telecom, UBET Telecom, Inc., and Uintah Basin Long Distance on November
9, 2000, and supplemented on December 21, 2000, IS GRANTED to the extent indicated herein. 
11.    IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this Order is effective upon release. 

                              FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION




                              Katherine L. Schroder
                              Chief, Accounting Policy Division
                              Common Carrier Bureau