TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

FCC Ordered to Reconsider Integrated Operation: The Federal Communications Commission must review the permission it gave regional Bell companies to offer electronic voice mail, other information services and telephone service under one roof, a federal appeals court ruled. The FCC has not yet shown why the public benefits of combined operations, which it has allowed for nearly a decade, outweigh the costs, said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court had reached the same conclusion in 1990 in response to an earlier FCC decision. The ruling should have no immediate effect on the so-called Baby Bells or their customers, because the companies are likely to seek another emergency FCC order allowing combined operations to continue, said a regional Bell source who asked not to be identified.