January 21, 2000
                              
                              
      FCC CHAIRMAN KENNARD APPLAUDS INDUSTRY DECISION
            TO PROVIDE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACCESS
                FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
  
  
  
  The deadline for mounting a legal challenge to our Section 255 rules which
  provide access for people with disabilities to telecommunications in the information age
  passed, with no challenges being filed.    I am pleased that the industry is focusing its
  considerable talents on implementing the rules rather than on challenging them.  
  
  I welcome the industry's willingness to focus on increasing access to people with
  disabilities, rather than on litigation, is a testament to the enormous amount of work
  industry representatives put into developing these rules.  It proves that collaborative
  problem solving yields the best result. 
  
                           -FCC-