Generally, the Commission's rules may be waived for good cause shown. As noted by the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, however, agency rules are presumed valid. The Commission may exercise its discretion to waive a rule where the particular facts make strict compliance inconsistent with the public interest. In addition, the Commission may take into account considerations of hardship, equity, or more effective implementation of overall policy on an individual basis. Waiver of the Commission's rules is therefore appropriate only if special circumstances warrant a deviation from the general rule, and such a deviation will serve the public interest.
Communications provides only prepaid calling services and has no presubscribed customers.
LD primarily provides casual calling services, it has a relatively small number of presubscribed customers who were its prior casual calling customers. We conclude that special circumstances exist to justify a waiver. We conclude that a waiver of the Commission's carrier change rules and orders is necessary to provide a seamless transition with no disruption of service to the transferred customers. In addition, customers will be given a toll-free number to call with any questions they may have about the transition.