November 9, 2004

The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) today issued an order seeking public comments by Nov. 30 on SBC's notice to the Commission that claims a competitive market exists for business and residential local exchange services in most of Michigan. Reply comments will be due by Dec. 10. After that, the Commission will determine whether a hearing will be required.

SBC Michigan on Oct. 26 filed notices with the Commission claiming that a competitive market exists for business and residential local exchange services offered in all but northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Section 208 of the Michigan Telecommunications Act authorizes a telecommunication provider to notify the Commission when it believes a competitive market exists.

The Commission has selected this case for participation in its electronic filings program.

People who wish to submit comments to the Commission on this case and do not anticipate participating in other MPSC electronic cases, may submit their comments in an e-mail message or as an e-mail attached document to: mpscefilecases@michigan.gov. Please specify that the comments are being filed in response to Cases Numbers U-14323 and U-14324.

For those individuals already participating in the electronic filings program should file as they normally would for any electronically filed case.

For those who have not previously participated in electronic case filings and intend on being a party to this case, they should to request information on how to participate electronically in an e-mail to: mpscefilecases@michigan.gov.

The Commission recognizes that not all individuals have a computer or Internet access to submit comments electronically. Therefore, comments may be submitted on paper and mailed to:

Executive Secretary, Michigan Public Service Commission, 6545 Mercantile Way,
P.O. Box 30221, Lansing, MI 48909.

Case numbers should be included with the comments.

All comments submitted to the Commission are made public on the MPSC's Web site. Therefore, people with privacy concerns should exercise discretion in what information they include in their comments. For example, social security numbers and account information should not typically be included in comments submitted.

The MPSC is an agency within the Department of Labor & Economic Growth.

Cases Nos. U-14323, U-14324

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