April 25, 1994

             FCC COMMISSIONER ANDREW C. BARRETT TO PARTICIPATE
             AS DELEGATE TO THE NTIA/NCUC HEARING ON UNIVERSAL
            SERVICE AND THE NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTURCTURE

      FCC Commissioner Andrew C. Barrett will participate as a
member of a delegation led by Deputy Secretary of Commerce David
Barram at a public hearing on Universal Service and the National
Information Infrastructure sponsored by the Department of
Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) and the North Carolina Utilities Commission
(NCUC).

      The hearing entitled "Meeting the Information Needs of All
Americans" will be held on April 27, 1994 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, in Durham,
NC.
 
      Commissioner Barrett said, "I am looking forward to hearing
the participants' views on the evolving marketplace for
telecommunications services, especially with respect to
opportunities for new users of voice, video and data services."
     
      Chairman Reed Hundt added, "Universal Service is a critical
issue facing the FCC.  Andy Barrett's participation in these
hearings on this issue will enable the Commission to hear the
thoughts and opinions of a wide range of people from across the
country.  This kind of public dialogue must take place if we are
to develop a Universal Service policy for the 21st Century."     

     
      NTIA and NCUC have chosen this forum in order to seek
public comment on the following questions:  (1) How is the
information marketplace evolving?  (2) How should an open access
policy be shaped to accomodate the changing needs of the
information marketplace?  (3) What legal and regulatory decisions
need to be made to implement an open access policy that promotes
the free flow of ideas and information?
  
   

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     Prior to his appointment to the FCC in 1989, Commissioner
Barrett served as Commissioner on the Illinois Commerce
Commission, the agency responsible for the regulation of
telephone companies and other utilities within the State.  In
addition to his tenure at the Commerce Commission, the
Commissioner's distinguished career has included service in the
following capacities:  Chairman of the Water Committee of the
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC);
Assistant Director of the Illinois Department of Business and
Economic Development; Assistant Director of the Illinois
Department of Commerce and Community Affairs; Director of
Operations for the Illiniois Law Enforcement Commission; 
Executive Director of the Chicago Branch of the NAACP; Associate
Director of the National Conference of Christians and Jews;
assistant professor at the City Colleges of Chicago; and former
president of the Mid-America Regulatory Conference.
     
      He is currently a member of the NARUC Committee on
Communications, the National Bar Association, the Economic Club
of Chicago, and serves on the boards of the YMCA of Metropolitan
Chicago and the Chicago Urban League.

      Commissioner Barrett is a graduate of Roosevelt University
of Chicago (B.A.), Loyola University of Chicago (M.A.), and
DePaul University (J.D.).


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