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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                     Washington, D.C. 20554
                                
                                              Adopted:  August 10, 2001
                                              Released:  August 13, 2000

Ms. Sandra L. Wagner
Vice President, Federal Regulatory
SBC Telecommunications, Inc.
1401 I Street, N.W.
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005

RE:  SBC/Ameritech Merger Order, CC Docket No. 98-141, ASD File No. 99-49

Dear Ms. Wagner:
   
This letter grants an extension of the deadline for filing an independent auditor's report as required
by the SBC/Ameritech Merger Order.  Specifically, SBC requests an extension of the due date, from
September 4, 2001 to November 12, 2001, for the performance data required under Condition 24,
Additional Service Quality Reporting, of the SBC/Ameritech Merger Order.  As explained below, the
Bureau grants the extension of time.

To ensure on-going compliance, the Commission required SBC to obtain an independent audit of
its compliance with the Merger Conditions.   The Merger Conditions require SBC to submit the audit
report to the Commission by September 1, 2001.  The Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau may,
however, extend the deadline "upon a request and showing of good cause" by SBC.  

The last audit of the service quality performance data revealed a number of issues that required
interpretative guidance from the staff.  Since April 2001, SBC has been working with the Bureau staff on
the interpretative issues.  The ensuing discussions between the Bureau staff and SBC lasted several months
because of the detailed technical nature of the subject matter.  SBC states that an extension is necessary in
order to properly implement the interpretative guidance, review its reporting processes, submit corrected
reports, and perform a quarter-by-quarter comparative analysis on the data.  In discussions with the staff,
SBC indicated that the additional time will enable the independent auditor to conduct a thorough and
systematic evaluation of the accuracy of SBC's performance data required under Condition 24.  For the
forgoing reasons, I grant the requested extension of the audit report deadline for Condition 24 from
September 4, 2001 to November 12, 2001.  This extension does not apply to SBC's obligation to file the
audit report on all other conditions by September 4, 2001. 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.  You may also contact Mark
Stone in the Common Carrier Bureau directly at (202) 418-0816 for further information on this matter.



                      Sincerely,

      
                        Carol E. Mattey
                     Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau