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 Federal  Communications  Commission  DA  06-  1544 
 Before  the  Federal  Communications  Commission 
 Washington,  D.  C.  20554 


 In  the  Matter  of 
 Qwest  Petition  for  Forbearance  Under  47  U.  S.  C.  §  160(  c)  from  Title  II  and 
 Computer  Inquiry  Rules  with  Respect  to  Broadband  Services 


 Petition  of  AT&  T  Inc.  for  Forbearance  Under  47  U.  S.  C.  §  160(  c)  from  Title  II 
 and  Computer  Inquiry  Rules  with  Respect  to  its  Broadband  Services 


 Petition  of  BellSouth  Corporation  for  Forbearance  Under  Section  47  U.  S.  C. 
 §  160(  c)  from  Title  II  and  Computer  Inquiry  Rules  with  Respect  to  Its 
 Broadband  Services 


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 WC  Docket  No.  06-  125 


 ORDER 
 Adopted:  July  28,  2006  Released:  July  28,  2006 
 By  the  Chief,  Competition  Policy  Division: 
 1.  On  June  13,  2006,  July  13,  2006,  and  July  20,  2006,  Qwest  Corporation  and  Qwest  Communications  Corporation  (jointly,  Qwest),  AT&  T,  Inc.  (AT&  T),  and  BellSouth  Corporation 
 (BellSouth),  respectively,  filed  petitions  for  forbearance,  pursuant  to  47  U.  S.  C.  §  160(  c),  seeking  relief  from  Title  II  and  Computer  Inquiry  rules  with  respect  to  certain  broadband  services.  1  On  July  19,  2006, 
 the  Wireline  Competition  Bureau  (Bureau)  released  a  public  notice  establishing  a  comment  date  of  August  3,  2006,  and  a  reply  date  of  August  18,  2006  for  the  Qwest  and  AT&  T  petitions.  2  On  July  21, 
 2006,  the  Bureau  issued  a  public  notice  establishing  identical  comment  and  reply  dates  for  the  BellSouth 


 1  Qwest  Petition  for  Forbearance  Under  47  U.  S.  C.  §  160(  c)  from  Title  II  and  Computer  Inquiry  Rules  with  Respect 
 to  Broadband  Services,  WC  Docket  06-  125  (filed  June  13,  2006);  Petition  of  AT&  T  Inc.  for  Forbearance  Under  47  U.  S.  C.  §  160(  c)  from  Title  II  and  Computer  Inquiry  Rules  with  Respect  to  Broadband  Services,  WC  Docket  06-  125 


 (filed  July  13,  2006);  Petition  of  BellSouth  Corporation  for  Forbearance  Under  47  U.  S.  C.  §  160(  c)  from  Title  II  and  Computer  Inquiry  Rules  with  Respect  to  Its  Broadband  Services,  WC  Docket  06-  125  (filed  July  20,  2006). 


 2  See  Pleading  Cycle  Established  for  Comments  on  Qwest  and  AT&  T  Petitions  for  Forbearance  Under  47  U.  S.  C. 
 §  160(  c)  from  Title  II  and  Computer  Inquiry  Rules  with  Respect  to  Broadband  Services,  WC  Docket  No.  06-  125,  Public  Notice,  DA  06-  1464  (rel.  July  19,  2006). 
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 Federal  Communications  Commission  DA  06-  1544 
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 petition  and  asking  parties  commenting  on  multiple  petitions  to  file  one  set  of  comments.  3  On  July  26,  2006,  and  July  27,  2006,  COMPTEL  and  the  Embarq  Local  Operating  Companies  (Embarq), 
 respectively,  filed  motions  asking  the  Commission  to  extend  the  comment  period  on  the  AT&  T,  BellSouth,  and  Qwest  petitions  to  August  20,  2006,  for  comments  and  September  5,  2006  for  replies.  4 
 COMPTEL  and  Embarq  state  that  an  extension  is  necessary  to  review  and  prepare  comments  appropriate  to  the  issues  presented  in  the  petitions. 


 2.  We  grant  in  part  and  deny  in  part  the  COMPTEL  and  Embarq  motions.  It  is  the  policy  of  the  Commission  that  extensions  of  time  are  not  routinely  granted.  5  However,  as  COMPTEL  and  Embarq 
 point  out,  the  forbearance  petitions  seek  broad  relief  to  the  regulations  affecting  broadband  service  competition.  6  We  therefore  extend  the  comment  date  until  August  17,  2006,  and  the  reply  comment  date 
 until  August  31,  2006.  We  believe  the  revised  comment  period  provides  sufficient  time  for  parties  to  prepare  comments  and  replies  appropriate  to  the  issues  raised  in  the  petitions.  We  therefore  deny 
 COMPTEL’s  and  Embarq’s  motions  to  the  extent  they  seek  extensions  beyond  August  17,  2006  for  comments  and  August  31,  2006  for  replies. 


 3.  ACCORDINGLY,  IT  IS  ORDERED  that,  pursuant  to  sections  4(  i),  4(  j),  and  5(  c)  of  the  Communications  Act,  47  U.  S.  C.  §§  154(  i),  154(  j),  155(  c),  and  sections  0.91,  0.291,  and  1.46  of  the 
 Commission’s  rules,  47  C.  F.  R.  §§  0.91,  0.291,  1.46,  the  Motion  for  Extension  of  Time  filed  by  COMPTEL  and  the  Motion  for  Consolidation  and  Extension  of  Time  filed  by  Embarq  are  GRANTED  IN 
 PART  and  DENIED  IN  PART,  as  specified  above. 


 FEDERAL  COMMUNICATIONS  COMMISSION 


 Renée  R.  Crittendon  Chief,  Competition  Policy  Division 


 3  See  Pleading  Cycle  Established  for  Comments  on  BellSouth  Petition  for  Forbearance  Under  47  U.  S.  C.  §  160(  c) 
 from  Title  II  and  Computer  Inquiry  Rules  with  Respect  to  Broadband  Services,  WC  Docket  No.  06-  125,  Public  Notice,  DA  06-  1490  (rel.  July  21,  2006). 


 4  COMPTEL  Motion  for  Extension  of  Time,  WC  Docket  No.  06-  125  (filed  July  26,  2006);  Embarq  Motion  for 
 Consolidation  and  Extension  of  Time,  WC  Docket  No.  06-  125  (filed  July  27,  2006).  Embarq  also  requests  that  we  consolidate  its  petition  in  WC  Docket  No.  06-  125  with  the  same  comment  cycle.  We  note  that  today  we  issued  a 


 Public  Notice  in  WC  Docket  No.  06-  147  inviting  comment  on  the  Embarq  petition,  which  establishes  the  identical  comment  cycle  in  WC  Docket  No.  06-  125. 


 5  47  C.  F.  R.  §  1.46(  a). 
 6  COMPTEL  Motion  at  2;  Embarq  Motion  at  2. 
2