FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                News Media contact:
March 10, 2000                                                      David Fiske (202) 418-0500

                                
           STATEMENT OF FCC CHAIRMAN WILLIAM KENNARD
            ON FCC APPROVAL OF QWEST-US WEST MERGER


Last fall, I promised a fast track review of the Qwest - US WEST merger.  

I expect that the new company will quickly open its local market to competition and speed
up deployment of advanced services to its customers.

                                
                           - FCC  -