The PUC received permission from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in December to require thousand-block number pooling.  The PUC has given telephone companies until August 1 to implement the pooling plan in the 512 area code.  The PUC will evaluate the impact of thousand-block pooling by June 2001 and determine if any changes are necessary.  The plan ensures that a new area code for current 512 customers would not be needed until at least August 2001.

This is the first case of number pooling in Texas and one of the few in the country.  Historically, telephone companies were allocated numbers in blocks of 10,000.  If all numbers weren't needed, companies were allowed to keep the unused numbers.  Thousand-block pooling will reduce the amount of unused numbers and increase telephone number efficiency in the increasingly competitive Texas market.

The PUC is required by the FCC to have an area code relief plan upon implementation of number pooling.  Under the current plan, if thousand-block pooling does not slow the depletion of new numbers, the Austin and San Marcos metropolitan areas will require 10-digit local dialing.  Rural locations such as Bastrop, Lampasas and Rockdale would still be allowed 7-digit local dialing.

The PUC is considering thousand-block pooling for other Texas area codes and the FCC could begin such a system nationally next year.

On Thursday morning, Scott Bourne, President and CEO of Scott Bourne Companies, will present information for developing e-commerce strategies for your business.

Other speakers Thursday include a state legislator, who will provide an update on activities in the legislative arena, and David Horton, an attorney who specializes in labor laws, will discuss employment issues.

Friday morning, TSTCI members will receive a regulatory update and an outline of a three-step legislative plan to help shape the future of their companies/cooperatives.  Be sure to show up for a chance to win the grand prize, generously donated by Texas Communications Expo!

Timothy J. Peabody of Texico High School was named the 2000 Evelyn Patterson Memorial Scholarship winner.  The $2,000 scholarship was created in 1996 to honor ENMR•Plateau's first employee, Evelyn Patterson, who served the Cooperative from 1949 until her retirement in 1995.

Thirteen additional scholarships in the amount of $1,000 each were awarded to local students.  The recipients were announced at the Cooperative's Annual Meeting last month.

The ENMR•Plateau Educational Foundation has been awarding scholarships since 1993.  To date, over 100 scholarships have been provided to students from each of the Cooperative's seven geographical districts.  Students from 20 different school systems in the Cooperative's area have benefitted from the scholarship program.

The scholarships are funded through ENMR• Plateau members' donated and abandoned capital credit payments.  Among the ENMR•Plateau Educational Foundation's purposes is the desire to reinvest in the communities and to improve living conditions in the rural areas where the Cooperative's members reside

In other news, Cameron Communications, parent company of Cameron Telephone Company recently an-nounced the promotion and placement of two employees: Charlie Guidry was promoted to Vice President-Outside Plant Operations, and  Cindy Wilhite has been appointed to the new position of Project Manager.

ADC Telecommunications, Inc. was named a 1999 Technology Award winner by the readers and editors of Fiberoptic Product News for its small-form-factor LX.5TM adapter/connector.  Congratulations, ADC!

Advanced Fibre Communications, Inc. announced that its UMC1000 Multi-Service Access Platform, with V5.1 and V5.2 interfacing capabilities, is ADSL-ready and has received type approval for deployment by major operators in six countries:  China, Colombia, Italy, Korea, Poland and South Africa.  AFC is the first vendor to deploy a truly integrated On-Demand Broadband™ ADSL-ready system with standardized V5.1 and V5.2 interface in these six countries.

Alcatel and Fujitsu Limited announced their intention May 2 to join forces in the mobile communications field by establishing a joint venture to develop and manufacture next-generation mobile communications network systems.  The new company will be majority-owned by Alcatel, which will hold 66% of the shares, with Fujitsu holding the remainder.

Dobson Communications Corporation has completed its acquisition of the Texas 9 Rural Service Area.  The cellular service area, located between Dallas/Fort Worth and Abilene,  cost $125 million.  Dobson says it will deploy TDMA (time-division multiple-access) technology in the area during the second quarter of 2000 and will build additional cell sites throughout the year.

TSTCI will sponsor an Internet Law Workshop beginning Tuesday afternoon, July 25 and continuing Wednesday morning, July 26.  The workshop will be held at The Harvey Hotel-DFW Airport in Irving.

Speakers include Sabra Srader, Jamey Phillips and Don Richards from McWhorter, Cobb and Johnson, and Mr. Conley Cathey from CHR Solutions.

Some of the issues to be addressed include: employment issues related to the internet; obscenity, indecency, and child pornography laws; defamation; privacy and related issues; copyright, trademark and patent law issues; negative implications of internet usage for ILECs; and internet issues/solutions for ILECs.

The cost of the workshop is $75.00.  Information and a meeting agenda will be mailed soon. Please be sure to share the information with others in your company.

Chairman Kennard noted, "This proposal would virtually eliminate affordability of monthly bills as a barrier to local service.  It would create a new market which telecommunications com-panies will be eager to serve, and result in an increase in modern infrastructure in Tribal areas." Kennard says the investment in the Lifeline program will encourage carriers to expand services to Indian reservations.  He is hopeful that over 300,000 Indian households will benefit from this new discount.

According to the Fact Sheet on Indian Lifeline Service, telephone subscribership amount mem-bers of federally-recognized Indian tribes remains low in spite of the existing Lifeline discount.  The 1990 census indicated that only 22% of Navajo Reservation households have a phone.  The nationwide penetration rate for reservation households is only 47%, while the penetration rate for U.S. households is 94%.

Low incomes make it difficult for reservation residents to have a phone, even where facilities are available.  The average per capita annual income of Indians on reservations or trust lands is $4,478 compared to the average U.S. per capita annual income of $14,420.

July 2000
1-5 - OPASTCO Summer Convention - Colorado Springs, Colorado
12 - PUC Open Meeting
12-14 - TSTCI Bookkeepers/Accountants Conference - San Antonio, Texas
25-26 - TSTCI Internet Seminar - Dallas, Texas

August 2000
2-4 - TSTCI Futures Retreat - Lake Tahoe, Nevada 
10 - PUC Open Meeting
24 - PUC Open Meeting