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 NEWS  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974).  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322 
 FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE:  NEWS  MEDIA  CONTACT:  April  29,  2005  Mark  Wigfield,  202-  418-  0253 
 Email:  mark.  wigfield@  fcc.  gov 


 FCC  Upholds  Rules  Governing  Competitive  Access  to  Directory  Assistance 
 Washington,  D.  C.  –  The  Federal  Communications  Commission  today  upheld  and  clarified  its  rules  governing  the  duty  of  local  exchange  carriers  to  grant  competing  carriers  access 


 to  directory  assistance  information. 
 The  Commission  denied  a  petition  filed  by  BellSouth  Corp.  and  SBC  Communications  Inc.  seeking  reconsideration  of  rules  that  bar  them  from  imposing  restrictions  on  the  use  by 


 competitors  of  directory  assistance  information  competitors  obtain  from  the  LECs  under  the  Communications  Act.  Section  251(  b)(  3)  of  the  Act  requires  that  LECs  provide 
 nondiscriminatory  access  to  directory  assistance,  and  the  Commission  has  determined  that  this  permits  competitors  to  have  the  same  access  to  directory  assistance  information  that  the  LECs 
 provide  to  themselves. 
 The  order  clarifies  however,  that  a  LEC  must  not  provide  access  to  numbers  that  are  unlisted  at  the  customer’s  request.  And  while  competing  directory  assistance  providers  may  be 
 entitled  to  nondiscriminatory  access  to  directory  assistance  information,  they  still  must  adhere  to  the  privacy  requests  made  by  LEC  customers.  The  Commission  further  clarified  that  competitors 
 are  required  to  abide  by  other  state  and  federal  laws  and  regulations  governing  use  of  these  data.  For  example,  the  order  grants  the  petitioners'  requests  insofar  as  they  ask  the  Commission  to 
 agree  that  there  is  no  statutory  basis  for  allowing  directory  assistance  providers  to  use  listings  obtained  pursuant  to  section  251(  b)(  3)  of  the  Act  for  directory  publishing. 


 Finally,  the  Commission  rejected  SBC  and  BellSouth’s  argument  that  LECs  should  not  be  required  to  provide  access  to  local  listings  that  were  obtained  from  third  parties.  Even  though 
 the  Commission  has  declined  to  require  LECs  to  provide  nondiscriminatory  access  to  nonlocal  directory  assistance  data,  it  has  consistently  required  nondiscriminatory  access  to  all  of  their 
 local  directory  assistance  database  listings. 
 Action  by  the  Commission  April  29,  2005,  by  First  Report  and  Order  and  Order  on  Reconsideration  and  Notice  (FCC  05-  93).  Chairman  Martin,  Commissioners  Abernathy,  Copps, 
 and  Adelstein. 
 Wireline  Competition  Bureau  Staff  Contact:  Rodney  McDonald,  202-  418-  7513,  rodney.  mcdonald@  fcc.  gov 
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