###  DA 00-930 

> **April 27, 2000**
>
> **COMMON CARRIER BUREAU SEEKS FURTHER COMMENT ON**
>
> **TELEGATE'S PROPOSAL FOR PRESUBSCRIPTION TO**
>
> **"411" DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE SERVICES**
>
> **CC DOCKET NO. 99-273**
>
> **CC DOCKET NO. 98-67**
>
> **Pleading Cycle Established**

### COMMENTS: May 30, 2000 REPLY COMMENTS: June 14, 2000

# INTRODUCTION

In this Public Notice, the Common Carrier Bureau (Bureau) solicits
comment on Telegate, Inc.'s ("Telegate") proposal in CC Docket 99-273
that the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) enhance
competition in the directory assistance market by requiring local
exchange carriers (LECs) to implement presubscription to the N11 code
"411." Specifically, we solicit comments on the technical feasibility
and economic viability of requiring LECs to implement presubscription to
N11 codes in all pertinent proceedings. This includes presubscription to
"411" in the directory assistance proceeding, as well as presubscription
to "711" for Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS).

# BACKGROUND

On September 9, 1999, the Commission released the *Third Report and
Order, Second Order on Reconsideration, and Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking* ("*Notice*").[^1] In the *Notice*, the Commission
tentatively concluded that competition in the directory assistance
market is in the public interest.[^2] However, the Commission also
tentatively concluded that competitive directory assistance providers
are unable to fully compete without equal access to the local exchange
carriers' directory assistance databases.[^3] Therefore, the Commission
invited comment on whether certain competitive directory assistance
providers are providers of telephone exchange service or telephone toll
service for the purposes of section 251(b)(3) of the Telecommunications
Act of 1996 (the Act). The Commission also sought comment on whether
competitive directory assistance providers that are not providers of
telephone exchange service or telephone toll service are entitled to
nondiscriminatory access to directory assistance, including access to
directory assistance databases.[^4]

On October 13, 1999, Telegate filed comments in response to the
*Notice*. In its comments, Telegate proposed opening up "411" to
competition by allowing customers to choose their provider of directory
assistance service, just as they can choose their primary interexchange
carrier for long distance services. No reply comments were filed in
response to this portion of Telegate's comments.

On February 9, 2000, Telegate met with Bureau staff members to discuss
the Telegate "411" presubscription proposal. At the Bureau's suggestion,
on March 10, 2000, Telegate filed an *ex parte* illustrating, in further
detail, its "411" presubscription proposal.[^5] On March 28, 2000,
Telegate again met with Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology
staff to discuss Telegate's *ex parte* and proposal.

#### 

####  DISCUSSION

On the basis of Telegate's comments and Telegate's *ex parte*
presentations in CC Docket 99-273, the Bureau first solicits comments on
the economic viability and technical feasibility of the Telegate "411"
presubscription proposal.

Telegate asserts that "411" presubscription is technically feasible for
directory assistance using the Signaling System 7 (SS7) network, and
Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) features already deployed
nationwide.[^6] The Bureau seeks comment on this assertion, both
concerning whether presubscription to "411" can be implemented in the
manner proposed by Telegate, and also whether the AIN features necessary
to implement Telegate's proposal are in fact already deployed on a
nationwide basis. Telegate also asserts that the adoption of its
proposal would require a "modest investment" in upgrading the SS7
infrastructure.[^7] The Bureau seeks comment on Telegate's assertion and
also to the extent to which any commenting party believes that AIN
features and functionalities (both hardware and software) would have to
be expanded or augmented to implement Telegate's "411" presubscription
proposal (*e.g.,* by the addition of new Service Control Points to
accommodate the "411" database.)

Telegate also asserts that the implementation of "411" presubscription
as set forth in the Telegate March 10 *ex parte* is economically viable
for directory assistance, and estimates that the total cost of
implementing its proposal would be less than 23 million dollars with an
ongoing annual expense of 7.1 million dollars[^8]. Telegate also
estimates a one-time cost of \$ 0.11 per subscriber for the
implementation of "411" presubscription for a market that Telegate
estimates to be 3.3 billion dollars a year.[^9] The Bureau seeks comment
on these assertions. The Bureau also requests comment on the total cost
of implementing the Telegate "411" presubscription proposal, based upon
a general breakdown of itemized costs that would provide a reasonable
foundation for such estimates. Further, the Bureau requests comment on
how much of the total estimated cost should be passed onto consumers and
in what manner should consumers be charged.

Telegate suggests that "411" presubscription should be implemented via a
balloting procedure.[^10]. The Bureau also seeks comment on whether
balloting would be the most equitable and procompetitive manner of
implementing "411" presubscription; or whether there is a better
alternative to balloting. If the Commission were to require the
implementation of "411" presubscription, how else should customers be
allocated initially to competing directory assistance providers? The
Bureau also seeks comment on whether a lower cost alternative to "411"
presubscription to open the directory assistance market to competition
would be to require the provision of directory assistance services by
all competing entities through "1010" access codes and earmark the "411"
code for purposes other than directory assistance. We seek comment on
the consumer impact and public interest implications of such an
alternative.

In its proposal, Telegate does not address whether a directory
assistance database administrator would be necessary to maintain the
correct correlation between customers and their presubscribed directory
assistance providers, or to ensure that the telephone numbers in the
database are kept up-to-date. The Bureau seeks comment on whether such
an administrator would be necessary and how such an administrator would
be chosen. Further, the Bureau seeks comment on the potential cost of a
directory assistance administrator, particularly any costs associated
with customer changes of directory assistance . Finally, the Bureau
seeks comment on the technical feasibility and economical viability of
similarly implementing presubscription to other N11 codes, such as 711
access to TRS, and whether it would serve the public interest to provide
presubscription to other N11 numbers.

Interested parties may file comments concerning this matter on or before
May 30, 2000, and reply comments on or before June 14, 2000. All filings
must reference Docket Nos. 99-273 and 98-67. Send an original and four
copies to the Commission Secretary, Magalie Roman Salas, Portals II, 445
12th Street, SW, Suite TW-A325, Washington, D.C. 20554 and two copies to
Al McCloud, Network Services Division, Portals II, 445 12th Street,
S.W., Room 6A-320. Washington, D.C. 20554.

A copy of the comments filed in FCC 99-273, including the Telegate March
10 *ex parte*, may be obtained during regular business hours at the FCC
Reference Center, Portals II, 445 12th Street, S.W., Suite CY-A257,
Washington, D.C., 20554, (202) 418-0267 or through the FCC\'s
duplicating contractor, International Transcription Services, Inc. (ITS,
Inc.), 1231 20th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036, at (202) 857-3800
(voice/TRS) (202) 293- 8810 (TTY), (202) 857-3805 (fax), or
[service@itsdocs.com]{.underline} (e-mail). Copies of the comments and
the Telegate March 10 *ex parte* may also be obtained from the Internet
via the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) at
[http://izzy.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/s_a/]{.underline}. Parties interested in
obtaining the comments from the ECFS should use the docket number
"99-273" as the search term.

For further information contact Robin Smolen of the Common Carrier
Bureau, Network Services Division, at (202) 418-2353 (voice) or
rsmolen@fcc.gov, or Dennis Johnson of the Common Carrier Bureau, Network
Services Division, at (202) 418-0809 (voice) or dcjohnson@fcc.gov. The
TTY number is (202) 418-0484.

> -FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION-

[^1]: *Implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
    Telecommunications Carrier's Use of Customer Proprietary Network
    Information and Other Customer Proprietary Network Information and
    Other Customer Information, Implementation of the Local Competition
    Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Provision of
    Directory Listing Information under the Telecommunications Act of
    1934, as Amended,* Third Report and Order, CC Docket No. 96-115,
    Second Order on Reconsideration, CC Docket No. 96-98, and Notice of
    Proposed Rulemaking, CC Docket No. 99-273, FCC 99-227 (1999)
    (*Notice).*

[^2]: *Id.* at para. 183.

[^3]: *Id.* at para. 190.

[^4]: *Id.* at para. 184.

[^5]: Letter with attachments from Kelly Cameron, Powell, Goldstein,
    Frazer, and Murphy LLP, on behalf of Telegate, Inc., dated March 10,
    2000 (Telegate March 10 *ex parte).*

[^6]: Telegate March 10 *ex parte* at 12-14.

[^7]: *Id.* at 14.

[^8]: *Id*. at 14.

[^9]: *Id.* at 15.

[^10]: *Id.* at 16-18.