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 Federal  Communications  Commission  FCC  04-  214 
 STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  KEVIN  J.  MARTIN 


 Re:  In  the  Matter  of  Implementation  of  the  Subscriber  Carrier  Selection  Changes  Provisions  of  the  Telecommunications  Act  of  1996,  Policies  and  Rules  Concerning 
 Unauthorized  Changes  of  Consumers’  Long  Distance  Carriers;  CC  Docket  No.  94-  129 


 I  am  concerned  that  today’s  decision  regarding  the  Commission’s  slamming  rules  may  unduly  burden  small  and  rural  carriers.  Under  the  Commission’s  slamming 
 rules,  all  local  exchange  carriers  are  required  to  obtain  verification—  either  by  a  third  party  or  by  a  letter  of  authorization—  of  long  distance  carrier  changes  in  instances 
 when  a  customer  contacts  a  LEC  directly  to  request  the  change,  and  seeks  to  change  to  the  LEC’s  affiliated  long  distance  provider. 


 Several  small  and  rural  carriers  maintain  that  they  currently  use  letters  of  agency  (“  LOAs”)  to  verify  inbound  carrier  change  requests  rather  than  a  third  party 
 verification  process.  Some  rural  carriers  state  that  using  a  sophisticated  third-  party  verification  process  for  in-  bound  customer  calls  may  increase  costs  and  would  place 
 rural  LECs  that  have  an  affiliated  IXC  that  uses  a  manual  LOA  process  at  a  competitive  disadvantage  vis-  à-  vis  other  larger  carriers  that  use  a  third-  party 
 verification  process. 
 While  I  am  sympathetic  to  their  concerns,  it  appears  that  the  LEC  petitioners  in  this  proceeding  have  failed  to  supply  demonstrable  evidence  on  whether  it  is  cost 
 prohibitive  for  smaller  and  rural  carriers  to  use  the  same  third-  party  verification  process  used  by  larger  carriers. 
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