State Briefing With FCC on Local Telephone Competition

Contact:   Mary Jo Kunkle, MPSC

                517.241.3323

               Greg White, MPSC

                517.241.6188

Who:          State Public Utility Commissioners from Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Georgia meeting with two Federal Communications Commissioners.

What:         A Press Conference at which Public Utility Commissioners will highlight the process by which States have implemented the 1996 Telecommunications Act to foster local telecommunications

competition

Where:      Marriott Dearborn Inn Hotel

                 20301 Oakwood Blvd.

                 Dearborn, Michigan

When:       Monday, October 28, 2002, 2:00 p.m.

Michigan Public Service Commissioners Laura Chappelle, David Svanda and Robert Nelson, Commissioner Stan Wise, Georgia, Commissioner Judith Ripley, Indiana, Commissioner Ronda Fergus, Ohio, Commissioner Glen Thomas, Pennsylvania and Commissioner Joseph Mettner, Wisconsin will be meeting with Federal Communications Commissioners Kathleen Abernathy and Kevin Martin to discuss the process by which States have helped to foster local telecommunications competition through implementation of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Specifically, the State Commissioners will be explaining the processes they have employed for setting rates for unbundled network elements that allow competitors to access incumbent local exchange carriers telephone networks and thereby compete with the incumbent telephone companies.

A 2:00 p.m. Press Conference will follow the meeting.