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 PUBLIC  NOTICE  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12th  St.,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Fax-  On-  Demand  202  /  418-  2830  TTY  202  /  418-  2555  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov 
 ftp.  fcc.  gov 
 DA  01-  1472 
 Released:  June  20,  2001 


 COMMON  CARRIER  BUREAU  EXTENDS  THE  TIME  TO  FILE  REPLY 
 COMMENTS  ON  VERIZON'S  MAY  1  st  LETTER  CONCERNING  RELIEF 
 FROM  BELL  ATLANTIC/  GTE  MERGER  CONDITIONS 


 CC  Docket  No.  98-  184 
 Extended  Filing  Date 
 Reply  Comment  Date:  June  28,  2001 


 On  May  31,  2001,  the  Commission  released  a  Public  Notice  in  CC  Docket  No. 
 98-  184  establishing  the  pleading  cycle  for  comments  on  the  May  1  st  letter  filed  by 
 Verizon,  requesting  relief  from  one  of  the  conditions  in  the  BA/  GTE  Merger  Order.  1  The 
 Public  Notice  required  parties  to  file  comments  on  or  before  June  14,  2001  and  reply 
 comments  on  or  before  June  21,  2001. 


 On  June  13  th  ,  the  Commission's  Electronic  Comment  Filing  System  (ECFS) 
 experienced  difficulties  and  was  taken  off-  line  for  repairs.  ECFS  is  the  means  by  which 
 the  public  may  view  electronically  either  paper  or  electronic  comments  filed  with  the 
 Commission.  ECFS  came  back  online  on  June  18th,  however,  because  of  the  resulting 
 backlog  in  documents  to  be  posted,  comments  filed  with  the  Commission  in  the  instant 
 proceeding  on  Friday,  June  14th,  were  unavailable  for  viewing  as  of  yesterday. 


 It  is  the  policy  of  the  Commission  that  extensions  of  time  are  not  routinely 
 provided.  2  In  this  instance,  however,  the  Bureau  will  provide  parties  with  an  extension  of 
 one  week  in  which  to  file  reply  comments.  The  Bureau  determines  that  no  party  will  be 
 prejudiced  by  a  one-  week  extension  and  that  the  Commission  will  benefit  from  the 
 additional  views  that  may  result  from  this  brief  extension.  We  do  caution  parties, 
 however,  that  while  it  is  a  goal  of  the  Commission  to  make  our  proceedings  more 


 1  Letter  from  Gordon  R.  Evans,  Vice  President,  Federal  Regulatory,  Verizon,  to  Magalie  Roman  Salas,  Secretary,  FCC  (May  1, 
 2001).  2 
 See  47  C.  F.  R.  †  1.46(  a). 
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 accessible  to  the  public  by,  among  other  things,  posting  comments  using  the  ECFS,  the 
 burden  remains  on  interested  parties  to  contact  the  Secretary  to  determine  whether 
 comments  have  been  received  in  a  particular  proceeding.  Furthermore,  regardless  of 
 whether  the  ECFS  is  online,  as  always,  paper  copies  are  available  at  the  Commission's 
 Reference  Information  Center. 


 Accordingly,  interested  parties  may  now  file  reply  comments  on  or  before  June 
 28,  2001.  For  further  information  contact  Cathy  Carpino,  Policy  and  Program  Planning  Division,  Common  Carrier  Bureau,  at  (202)  418-  1580  or  ccarpino@  fcc.  gov. 


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