July 30, 1998

          AT&T CEO MICHAEL ARMSTRONG ASSUMES CHAIR OF
         NETWORK RELIABILITY AND INTEROPERABILITY COUNCIL
                                
     FCC Chairman William Kennard today announced that C. Michael Armstrong,
Chairman and CEO of AT&T, will Chair the Network Reliability and Interoperability Council. 
Kennard thanked Ivan Seidenberg, Vice Chairman, President and CEO of Bell Atlantic, for
leading the Council during its previous term.  

     The Council's members are senior representatives of providers and users of
telecommunications services and products, including telecommunications carriers, the satellite,
cable television, wireless and computer industries, trade associations, labor and consumer
representatives, manufacturers, research organizations and government related organizations. 

     The role of the Council is to develop recommendations to the Commission and the
telecommunications industry that, when implemented, will assure optimal reliability,
interoperability and interconnectivity of, and accessibility to, public telecommunications
networks.  The Council will also advise the Commission on the efforts of the industry to
prepare for Year 2000 conversion.

     The Council was first formed in January of 1992 following a series of major telephone
service outages and initially analyzed the causes of telephone service outages and
recommended steps to avoid or mitigate such outages.  In 1994, the Council's membership was
expanded to include representatives of the satellite, cable television and wireless industries and
it examined new reliability issues raised by the entry of new service providers and by changing
telecommunications technologies.  In 1996, the Council developed recommendations for
implementing Section 256 of the 1996 Act relating to oversight of joint network planning by
telecommunications carriers and the development, by standards-setting organizations, of public
telecommunications network interconnectivity standards. 

     The Council's 1997 report is available on the internet at:  http://www.fcc.gov/oet/nric.

                            - FCC -

For further information, contact Marsha MacBride (202) 418-2379 in the FCC Office of
Engineering and Technology.