Section 256 of the Communications Act, enacted in February of 1996, states two key purposes: (1) "to promote nondiscriminatory accessibility by the broadest number of users and vendors of communications products and services to public telecommunications networks used to provide telecommunications service" and (2) "to ensure the ability of users and information providers to seamlessly and transparently transmit and receive information between and across telecommunications networks." To accomplish these purposes, the Commission is required to establish procedures to oversee coordinated network planning by providers of telecommunications services. It also is authorized to participate in the development by appropriate industry standards-setting organizations of public telecommunications network interconnectivity standards that promote access.

The Federal Communications Commission asked its Network Reliability and Interoperability Council for recommendations on what should be done to implement Section 256, and on July 15, 1997, the Council provided the Commission with its report. The purpose of this homepage is to implement certain recommendations made by the Council to the Commission.

In its report, the Council states that the objectives of Section 256 -- accessibility, transparency, and seamless interoperability -- need to be pursued in context with other important objectives of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, in particular, fostering innovation, competition and deregulation in telecommunications. The Council believes competitive market forces, voluntary standards processes and agreements among service providers, equipment suppliers and other participants, should be relied on as the primary vehicles by which to balance the various objectives.

Many of the Council's recommendations relate to the voluntary standards processes that are used today to accomplish key interoperability and reliability objectives in telecommunications. These recommendations include the following:

• To oversee coordinated network planning, the Council recommends that the FCC monitor ANSI accredited and other open, consensus-based telecommunications standards developers, to ensure that they support interoperability of national services or products. Click here to access the key telecommunications standards related groups identified by the Council.
• To improve the efficiency of the standards process in meeting the requirements of Section 256, the Council recommends that the FCC:
• respond to requests by industry fora for issue resolution of Section 256 matters using the most expeditious mechanism available;
• identify a single point-of-contact for the informal exchange of information between the FCC and standards developers on activities related to the interconnection requirements of Section 256;
• respond to complaints by parties who do not believe the standards process is adequately meeting their access or interoperability needs.

Requests by industry fora for expedited Commission resolution of Section 256 standards issues, requests for information, and complaints about the standards process in meeting access or interoperability needs should be sent to Kent Nilsson.

• To promote access to public telecommunications networks used to provide telecommunications service, the Council recommends that parties needing a formal technical specification to establish a telecommunications interconnection arrangement take the following steps: (1) Conduct a search to determine if an existing standard will satisfy the technical need and apply it; (2) if the technical need can not be met by an existing standard, develop a high-level description and submit it to the standards developer charged to develop the type of interconnection standard needed; (3) if insufficient information is available to conduct either of these steps, contact the American National Standard Institute Information Infrastructure Standards Panel.
• To facilitate market entry, the Council encourages new network providers to participate in existing telecommunications industry standards processes, particularly those of Committee T1 and TIA.
• To promote access to network capabilities and services by individuals with disabilities, the Council believes procedures in place at ANSI, TIA, EIA, Committee T1, and other standards developers are adequate to capture standards needs and provide input to the standards process when these procedures are utilized by groups representing persons with disabilities. It recommends these groups become active in ANSI's Consumer Interest Council. It recommends the FCC provide public notice of developments that facilitate access to telecommunications services by this community. The FCC's Disabilities Task Force maintains a home page of information on FCC activities that are of particular interest to people with disabilities.
• To promote access to information services by subscribers of rural telephone companies, the Council believes membership by rural telephone companies in the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO) is an effective way to become informed about relevant standards issues. The Council also recommends membership in the United States Telephone Association (USTA) , or direct participation in any ATIS sponsored forum.

This page will be updated periodically to provide additional information on standards-related interoperability matters. Corrections and contributions should be provided to Kent Nilsson.