*Pages 1--3 from Microsoft Word - 57487.doc* PUBLIC NOTICE Federal Communications Commission 445 12 th Street, 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 06- 1192 Released: June 2, 2006 QWEST CORPORATION, PINE TELEPHONE SYSTEMS, INC., AND OREGON TELEPHONE CORPORATION SEEK WAIVER OF THE STUDY AREA BOUNDARY FREEZE AS CODIFIED IN PART 36 PLEADING CYCLE ESTABLISHED CC Docket No. 96- 45 Comments Due: June 16, 2006 Reply Comments Due: June 23, 2006 On May 4, 2006, Qwest Corporation (Qwest), Pine Telephone Systems, Inc. (Pine Telephone), and Oregon Telephone Corporation (Oregon Telephone) (collectively, the Petitioners) filed a joint petition for waiver of the study area boundary freeze as codified in the Appendix- Glossary of Part 36 of the Commission’s rules. 1 The requested study area waiver would permit Qwest to remove the Granite and Stices Gulch areas from its Oregon study area; permit the Granite and the northern portion of Stices Gulch to be added to Pine Telephone’s study area; permit the southern portion of Stices Gulch to be added to Oregon Telephone’s study area; and permit an area adjacent to the northern portion of the Stices Gulch area to be removed from Oregon Telephone’s study area and added to Pine Telephone’s study area. The service areas at issue in this proceeding had been previously transferred to the study areas requested by the Petitioners pursuant to approvals granted by the Oregon Public Utility Commission operating under the assumption that the applicable Federal Communications Commission (Commission) order at the time appeared to indicate that study area waivers were not required for the transfers and additions of unserved areas. 2 The Petitioners are now requesting study area waivers in light of a subsequent Commission order that found that study area waivers are required for unserved areas that are 1 47 C. F. R. App. (defining “study area”). 2 See Request for Clarification filed by the National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc., and Petitions for Waiver Filed by Alaska Telephone Company, Ducor Telephone Company, and Kingsgate Telephone, Inc., Concerning the Definition of “Study Area” in the Part 36 Appendix- Glossary of the Commission’s Rules, Memorandum Opinion and Order, 11 FCC Rcd 8156, 8160, at para. 9 (Com. Car. Bur. 1996). 1