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   Before the

   FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

   Washington, D. C. 20554

   In the Matter of )

   ) File No. ENF-98-06

   ConQuest Operator Services Corp. )

   ) NAL/Acct. No. 816EF0004

   Apparent Liability for Forfeiture )

   NOTICE OF APPARENT LIABILITY FOR FORFEITURE

   Adopted: August 11, 1998 : Released: August 14, 1998

   By the Commission:

      1. By this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture ("NAL"), we
         initiate enforcement action against ConQuest Operator Services Corp.
         For the reasons set forth below, we find that ConQuest apparently
         willfully or repeatedly violated Section 254 of the Communications
         Act of 1934 (the "Act"), as amended by the Telecommunications Act of
         1996 (the "1996 Act"), and Commission rules and orders issued
         pursuant thereto, by failing to pay its universal service
         contribution. Based upon our review of the facts and circumstances
         surrounding the violations, we find that ConQuest is apparently
         liable for a forfeiture in the amount of seventy thousand and
         thirty-three dollars ($70,033).

      2. Ensuring universal service throughout the country represents one of
         the primary goals of the 1996 Act. This important congressional
         objective is embodied in Section 254:

   Consumers in all regions of the Nation, including low-income consumers and
   those in rural, insular, and high cost areas, should have access to
   telecommunications and information services, including interexchange
   services and advanced telecommunications and information services, that
   are reasonably comparable to those services provided in urban areas and
   that are available at rates that are reasonably comparable to rates
   charged for similar services in urban areas.

   To ensure the realization of this goal, the statute provides:

   Every telecommunications carrier that provides interstate
   telecommunications services shall contribute, on an equitable and
   nondiscriminatory basis, to the specific, predictable, and sufficient
   mechanisms established by the Commission to preserve and advance universal
   service.

   The statute further requires that, within 15 months of the enactment of
   the 1996 Act, the Commission implement the changes to its regulations
   necessary to achieve the statutory goal of universal service. The
   Commission issued a series of orders to comply with this important portion
   of the 1996 Act.

      3. Our regulations restate the statutory requirement that
         telecommunication carriers "must contribute to the universal service
         support programs." In the Universal Service Order, we named the
         National Exchange Carrier Association ("NECA") as the temporary
         administrator of the universal service support mechanisms.
         Subsequently, we directed NECA to create, as a condition of serving
         as temporary universal service administrator, an independent,
         not-for-profit subsidiary, the Universal Service Administrative
         Company ("USAC"), to administer temporarily the universal service
         support mechanisms for high cost areas and low-income consumers, and
         to perform billing and collection functions for the universal
         service support mechanisms for schools and libraries and rural
         health care providers. In that connection, we directed that USAC
         distribute, receive, and process the Universal Service Worksheet on
         which carriers are required to report certain categories of revenue
         used to calculate their universal service contribution; we further
         directed that USAC adjust carriers' contributions in accordance with
         contribution factors established by the Commission. Given the
         importance of ensuring universal service, our regulations provide
         that the failure "to submit the required . . . contributions may
         subject the contributor to the enforcement provisions of the Act and
         any other applicable law."

      4. USAC received ConQuest's Universal Service Worksheet on or about
         September 9, 1997. Based on the information reflected in the
         worksheet, the accuracy of which was certified by ConQuest's vice
         president and secretary, Marianne Townsend, USAC sent ConQuest an
         invoice for its first universal service monthly contribution. The
         invoice was dated January 15, 1998 and set out ConQuest's liability
         to the high cost, low income, schools and libraries, and rural
         health care funds. The invoice stated that payment of the requested
         amount was due by February 16, 1998. ConQuest failed to submit its
         contribution by the due date stated in the invoice.

      5. On February 26, 1998, Nancy Thomas, USAC's Billing and Collection
         Manager, wrote to ConQuest at the address included on ConQuest's
         Universal Service Worksheet, requesting payment by March 4, 1998.
         Subsequently, on March 6, 1998, USAC wrote to ConQuest again
         requesting payment of the contribution. On February 23 and March 9,
         1998, and one other occasion in March, USAC personnel telephoned
         ConQuest to discuss the overdue universal service contribution.
         During the March 9 call a representative of ConQuest told USAC's
         representative that payment would be forthcoming. ConQuest has
         disputed neither that debt was due and owing, nor the amount of the
         debt. As of this date, however, ConQuest has not paid to USAC any
         portion of the amount that it owes for January 1998, nor has it
         provided any explanation for its failure to make payment. USAC's
         records also indicate that ConQuest has failed to pay its assessed
         contributions for February, March, April, May and June 1998.

      6. Based on the foregoing, we conclude that ConQuest is apparently
         liable for forfeiture for willful or repeated violation of Section
         254 of the Act and the Commission's rules governing universal
         service contributions. Since February 16, 1998, ConQuest has failed
         to pay its January universal service contribution, the amount of
         which was calculated by USAC from figures that ConQuest itself
         reported in its Universal Service Worksheet. As explained above,
         Section 254(d) of the Act, as well as our Rule 54.703(a), require
         that telecommunication carriers make universal service contributions
         in the amount prescribed by USAC. In the absence of any evidence
         indicating that ConQuest is unable to pay the assessed contribution,
         it appears that its failure to make the required contribution
         amounts to a willful or repeated violation of the Act and the
         Commission's rules. As we have noted above, it appears that ConQuest
         is currently also in arrears for its assessed universal service
         contributions for February through June of this year. The failure to
         make timely payment of its contributions for each of these months
         represents an independent violation of the Act and our rules;
         however, we do not currently find apparent liability for these
         violations. Nevertheless, these added violations could form the
         basis for additional notices of apparent liability in the future.

      7. Section 503(b)(2)(B) of the Act authorizes the Commission to assess
         a forfeiture of up to one hundred ten thousand dollars ($110,000)
         for each violation, or each day of a continuing violation, up to a
         statutory maximum of one million, one hundred thousand dollars
         ($1,100,000) for a single act or failure to act. In exercising this
         forfeiture authority, the Commission is required to take into
         account "the nature, circumstances, extent, and gravity of the
         violation and, with respect to the violator, the degree of
         culpability, any history of prior offenses, ability to pay, and such
         other matters as justice may require." For purposes of determining
         an appropriate forfeiture penalty in this case, we view ConQuest's
         delinquency as a single, continuing violation, which began on
         February 17, 1998, the day after its universal service contribution
         was due, and is currently of 175 days in duration. After weighing
         the circumstances surrounding the violation, and the central
         importance of universal service to the goals of the 1996 Act, we
         find that ConQuest is apparently liable for a forfeiture of seventy
         thousand and thirty-three dollars ($70,033) for failure to make its
         universal service contribution in a timely manner. This forfeiture
         figure is based in part on ConQuest's universal service liability,
         which, in turn, was based on revenue figures that it reported in its
         Universal Service Worksheet. Accordingly, the calculation of the
         forfeiture amount is set out in Appendix 2 to this notice, which
         will remain under seal. ConQuest will have the opportunity to submit
         evidence and arguments in response to this NAL to show that no
         forfeiture should be imposed or that some lesser amount should be
         assessed.

   VI. CONCLUSIONS AND ORDERING CLAUSES

      8. We have evaluated the information relating to ConQuest's obligation
         to pay its universal service contribution and find that ConQuest
         apparently has failed to pay its contribution in a timely manner. We
         conclude that ConQuest thereby apparently willfully or repeatedly
         violated Section 254 of the Act and Commission rules and orders
         governing universal service contributions, and that ConQuest's
         conduct warrants a forfeiture in the amount of seventy thousand and
         thirty-three dollars ($70,033). We further note that ConQuest
         remains liable to USAC for the full amount of the assessed universal
         service contribution. Payment of this forfeiture in no way relieves
         ConQuest of its obligation to pay the previously assessed
         contribution amount.

      9. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Section 503(b) of
         Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. S: 503(b), and
         Section 1.80 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. S: 1.80, that
         ConQuest Operator Services Corp. IS HEREBY NOTIFIED of an Apparent
         Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of seventy thousand and
         thirty-three dollars ($70,033) for willful or repeated violation of
         Section 254 of the Act and the Commission's universal service rules
         and orders.

     10. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, pursuant to Section 1.80 of the Commission's
         rules, 47 C.F.R. S: 1.80, that within thirty days of the release of
         this Notice, ConQuest Operator Services Corp. SHALL PAY the full
         amount of the proposed forfeiture OR SHALL FILE a response showing
         why the proposed forfeiture should not be imposed or should be
         reduced.

     11. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this Notice of Apparent
         Liability for Forfeiture SHALL BE SENT by certified mail to John
         Burchett, President, ConQuest Operator Services Corp., 5500 Frantz
         Road, Suite 125, Dublin, Ohio, 43017.

   FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

   Magalie Roman Salas,

   Secretary.

   ConQuest is located at 5500 Frantz Road, Suite 125, Dublin, Ohio, 43017.

   47 U.S.C. S: 254. Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-104, 110
   Stat. 56 (1996).

   See 47 U.S.C. S: 503(b)(2)(B). This section authorizes the Commission to
   assess a forfeiture penalty against a common carrier if the Commission
   determines that the carrier has "willfully or repeatedly" failed to comply
   with the provisions of the Act or with any rule, regulation, or order
   issued by the Commission under the Act.

   47 U.S.C. S: 254(b)(3).

   47 U.S.C. S: 254(d). See also 47 U.S.C. S: 153(44) (defining
   "telecommunications carrier"); 47 U.S.C. S: 153(46) (defining
   "telecommunications service"); 47 U.S.C. S: 153(43) (defining
   "telecommunications"); 47 C.F.R. S: 54.703(a) (codifying in Commission
   regulation the statutory requirement that telecommunications carriers
   "must contribute to the universal service support programs").

   47 U.S.C. S: 254(a)(2).

   See Federal State Joint Board on Universal Service, Report & Order, 12 FCC
   Rcd 8776 (1997) (Universal Service Order); Federal State Joint Board on
   Universal Service, Order on Reconsideration, 12 FCC Rcd 10095 (1997);
   Changes to the Board of Directors of the National Exchange Carrier
   Association, Inc., Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, Report
   & Order and Second Order on Reconsideration, 12 FCC Rcd 18400 (1997) (NECA
   Governance Order); Changes to the Board of Directors of the National
   Exchange Carrier Association, Inc. Federal State Joint Board on Universal
   Service, Order on Reconsideration, Second Report & Order, and Further
   Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 12 FCC Rcd 12437 (1997).

   See 47 C.F.R. S: 54.703(a).

   See Universal Service Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 9216-17, P: 866.

   See NECA Governance Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 18415, P: 25.

   See NECA Governance Order, 12 FCC Rcd at 18424-25, P: 43-45. See also 47
   C.F.R. S: 54.711(a).

   47 C.F.R. S: 54.713.

   See Declaration of Edward English, P: 3 (English Declaration). The English
   Declaration, Appendix 1 to this notice, is being placed under seal because
   it includes the figure for ConQuest's universal service contribution,
   information which third parties potentially could use to estimate
   ConQuest's revenues. In the future, however, regardless of carrier
   requests for confidentiality, we will be disinclined to withhold this type
   of information when issuing NALs to enforce carriers' universal service
   obligations.

   Id.

   See 47 U.S.C. S: 254(b)(3) (announcing universal service goal for
   "low-income consumers and those in rural, insular, and high cost areas");
   id S: 254(b)(6) (announcing universal service goal for "[e]lementary and
   secondary schools and classrooms, health care providers, and libraries").

   See English Declaration, P: 3.

   See id. P: 4.

   Id.

   Id.

   Id.

   Id.

   Id.

   See 47 C.F.R. S:S: 54.703(a), 54.713.

   47 U.S.C. S: 503(b)(2)(B); 47 C.F.R. S: 1.80. The Commission recently
   amended its rules by adding a new subsection to its monetary forfeiture
   provisions that incorporates the inflation adjustment requirements
   contained in the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-134,
   Sec. 31001, 110 Stat. 1321), enacted on April 26, 1996. See Amendment of
   Section 1.80 of the Commission's Rules, 12 FCC Rcd 1038 (1997).

   47 U.S.C. S: 503(b)(2)(D).

   See supra n. 13.

   47 U.S.C. S: 503(b)(4)(C); 47 C.F.R. S: 1.80(f)(3).

   The forfeiture amount should be paid by check or money order drawn to the
   order of the Federal Communications Commission. Reference should be made
   on the ConQuest Operator Services Corp.'s check or money order to
   "NAL/Acct. No. 816EF0004." Such remittances must be mailed to Forfeiture
   Collection Section, Finance Branch, Federal Communications Commission,
   P.O. Box. 73482, Chicago, Illinois 60673-7482.

   Federal Communications Commission FCC 98-196

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   Federal Communications Commission FCC 98-196

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   Federal Communications Commission FCC 98-196

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   Federal Communications Commission FCC 98-196

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   Federal Communications Commission FCC 98-196

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   Federal Communications Commission FCC 98-196

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