*Pages 1--3 from Microsoft Word - 9136.doc* Federal Communications Commission DA 01- 1234 _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D. C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) NorthPoint Communications, Inc. ) Application for Authority for Permanent ) NSD File No. W- P- D- 488 Discontinuance of Service Pursuant To ) Section 63.63 ) CERTIFICATE AND ORDER Adopted: May 22, 2001 Released: May 23, 2001 By the Acting Chief, Network Services Division, Common Carrier Bureau: 1. On March 23, 2001, NorthPoint Communications, Inc. (NorthPoint) filed an application requesting authority under section 214( a) of the Communications Act of 1934, 1 and section 63. 63 of the Federal Communications Commission's (Commission) regulations, 2 to discontinue service permanently, effective March 26, 2001. In this Certificate and Order, the application is granted. I. BACKGROUND 2. Under section 214( a), before a carrier may discontinue service, it must obtain from the Commission “a certificate that neither the present nor future public convenience and necessity will be adversely affected thereby.” 3 Section 63.63 provides, in emergency situations, that a carrier is 1 47 U. S. C. § 214( a). 2 47 C. F. R. § 63.63. 3 Section 214( a) requires a carrier to obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity either to construct, acquire, operate, or engage in transmission over lines of communication or to discontinue, reduce, or impair service: No carrier shall undertake the construction of a new line or of an extension of any line, or shall acquire or operate any line, or extension thereof, or shall engage in transmission over or by means of such additional or extended line, unless and until there shall first have been obtained from the Commission a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity require or will require the construction, or operation, or construction and operation, of such additional or extended line... . No carrier shall discontinue, reduce, or impair service ... unless and until there shall first have been obtained from the Commission a certificate that neither the present nor future public convenience and necessity will be adversely affected thereby.... 1 Federal Communications Commission DA 01- 1234 _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 2 automatically granted discontinuance authority for 60 days, beginning the day it files its application, unless the Commission informs it to the contrary within the first 15 days. This rule anticipates that service will resume when the emergency that necessitated the discontinuance ends, but provides that the applicant may, by the 50 th day after seeking discontinuance, request renewal of the authority for an indefinite period, or permanently. II. DISCUSSION 3. In accordance with section 63. 63, authority for NorthPoint to discontinue service was automatically granted for 60 days, from March 23, 2001 to May 22, 2001. NorthPoint, however, requested permanent discontinuance authority in its application. The application states that NorthPoint filed for bankruptcy on January 16, 2001, continued to seek additional funding through an auction that ended without success on March 22, 2001, and cannot obtain funding to sustain operations. 4. In a supplemental letter received April 2, 2001, 4 NorthPoint states that a Bankruptcy Court confirmed its liquidation of assets, which included a sale of most of the company’s assets to AT& T Corporation, including collocation arrangements, Operations Support Systems, and related assets, but not the company as a whole. NorthPoint indicates that it provided service over 117,860 circuits nationwide. NorthPoint believes its customers will be able to find alternate providers of broadband services, stating that in most areas of the country other carriers are interconnected at 95% of the central offices to which NorthPoint is interconnected. 5. The Commission began receiving numerous informal inquiries by telephone, at about the time that NorthPoint filed its application, from NorthPoint customers – internet service providers (ISPs) concerned about losing service and individual subscribers and ISP customers who in turn would be losing or had already lost service. NorthPoint, having sold the assets needed to provide service and having been unsuccessful in its attempts to find workable solutions to maintain its network through arrangements with other companies, is no longer able to provide service. Despite the loss of service that some customers may experience, we believe that most customers are likely to be able to obtain substitute service and we expect that the resulting harm should be reduced. We therefore authorize NorthPoint to discontinue service permanently. 4 Letter from Michael Olsen, NorthPoint, to Dorothy Attwood and Marty Schwimmer, FCC (April 1, 2001). 2 Federal Communications Commission DA 01- 1234 _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 3 III. ORDERING CLAUSES 6. IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to authority delegated in Sections 0.91 and 0.291 of the Commission's rules, 47 C. F. R. §§ 0.91, 0. 291, that NorthPoint’s application to discontinue service IS GRANTED. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Diane Griffin Harmon Acting Chief, Network Services Division Common Carrier Bureau 3