FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEWS MEDIA CONTACT March 6, 2000 DAVID FISKE (202) 418-0513 LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS CEO JAMES CROWE ASSUMES CHAIR OF NETWORK RELIABILITY AND INTEROPERABILITY COUNCIL FCC Chairman William E. Kennard and Commissioner Michael K. Powell today announced that James Q. Crowe, President and CEO of Level 3 Communications, Inc., will chair the next term of the Network Reliability and Interoperability Council (NRIC V). Both thanked AT&T CEO C. Michael Armstrong for leading the Council during its previous term (NRIC IV) 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 for the Commission and the telecommunications industry to assure optimal reliability, interoperability and interconnectivity of, and accessibility to, public telecommunications networks. Last year, NRIC IV played a significant leadership role in telecommunications industry Y2K preparations. Crowe has been CEO of Level 3 Communications since August 1997. He previously served as Chairman of the Board of WorldCom, Inc. from January to July 1997, and as Chairman and CEO of MFS Communications from 1986 through 1996. He is a director of three other telecommunications companies: Commonwealth Telephone, Dallas, Pennsylvania; RCN Corporation, Princeton, New Jersey; and Inacom Communications, Inc., Omaha, Nebraska. NRIC was first formed in January 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. Further information about NRIC's activities and reports is available on its website at http://www.nric.org. - FCC - For further information, contact Kent Nilsson (202) 418-0845 in the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology