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                                                 March 18, 1999
  
  
                   Separate Statement of
                Commissioner Gloria Tristani
  
  
       Re:  Deployment of Wireline Services Offering Advanced Telecommunications
       Capability, First Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
  
  
     I strongly support the Commission's decision to adopt stronger collocation rules. 
  These new rules will lower costs and reduce delays currently involved in the collocation
  process.  By simplifying collocation for competitors, I hope we will hasten the deployment
  of advanced services.  
  
  In many areas, it has been new entrants that have been most responsive to end
  users' demand for bandwidth.  And where competitors have gone, incumbents have
  quickly followed.  So I am convinced that eliminating costly and time-consuming
  collocation requirements will accelerate the deployment of high-speed services by
  competitors and incumbents alike.
  
     I am also pleased with the Commission's tentative conclusion that we should
  require line sharing by incumbent LECs.  Line sharing refers to the practice of two carriers
  providing different services over a single loop.  In the typical example, one carrier would
  provide voice-grade service while a second carrier, using a different frequency, would be
  able to transmit data over that same loop.  
  
  Today, if a competitor wants to provide high-speed data service to a customer, the
  competitor must purchase a separate line from the incumbent LEC and use it just for data. 
  The competitor's purchase of stand-alone lines is a cost that the incumbent LEC does not
  incur if it seeks to win a customer for high-speed data service.  Consequently, competitors
  today are at a potentially significant competitive cost disadvantage in the high-speed data
  market.
  
     My strong support for both parts of today's decision is based largely on my desire
  to encourage the deployment of high-speed service to residential markets.  Today, the
  business market is starting reap the benefits of competition among providers of high-speed
  data service.  Residential markets, unfortunately, are much farther behind.  The steps we
  take today could greatly enhance competitors' ability to serve residential markets.  
  
  I am told that, if high-speed data offerings are to gain a foothold in residential
  markets, the service must be priced lower than in business markets.  Better collocation
  rules and line sharing, if ultimately adopted, will go far toward lowering the input costs for
  new providers of advanced services.  I hope that a cost structure that is free of
  unreasonable impediments will accelerate competition in business markets and allow
  competitors to expand their footprints to include residential areas.