DA # 00-1553
July 11, 2000
The Merger Compliance Oversight Team, charged with monitoring SBC Communications Inc.'s compliance with the conditions attached to its merger with Ameritech, will also oversee compliance with conditions associated with other major common carrier mergers. See Oversight Team Created to Monitor SBC's Compliance With Merger Conditions, Public Notice, DA 99-2480 (released November 8, 1999)
The team, which is composed of members of the Common Carrier and Enforcement Bureaus, has three primary purposes. First, the team will actively monitor carriers' compliance with any applicable merger conditions. Second, the team will serve as a point of contact for state commissions, competitors, and other interested parties to report any instances of possible noncompliance. This informal process should enable the Commission to assist parties in quickly resolving disputes. Third, the team will recommend appropriate enforcement action for any noncompliance with merger conditions.
Recent mergers that come within the responsibility of the team include Bell Atlantic and GTE, approved by the Commission on June 16, 2000, and USWest and Qwest, given final approval by the Commission on June 26, 2000. Additional information about these, and other common carrier mergers, is available on the internet at http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/mergers.html. Information about the Commission's Merger Compliance Oversight Team and its activities is available at http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/mcot/. Information about local competition enforcement is also available at http://www.fcc.gov/eb/LoTelComp/ and at http://www.fcc.gov/eb/LoTelComp/ltcoccmv.html.
The leaders of the merger oversight team are Anthony Dale, a senior attorney in the Accounting Safeguards Division of the Common Carrier Bureau and Radhika Karmarkar, Assistant Chief of the Market Disputes Resolution Division, Enforcement Bureau. Mr. Dale, adale@fcc.gov, and Ms. Karmarkar, rkarmark@fcc.gov, can be contacted by phone at (202) 418-2260 and (202) 418-1628, respectively. They can also be contacted by U.S. mail at the address listed above with copies to the Chiefs of the Common Carrier and Enforcement Bureaus.
News media contacts: Michael Balmoris, CCB at (202) 418-0253 or John Winston, EB at (202) 418-7450.
By the Chiefs, Common Carrier Bureau and Enforcement Bureau