TDS Telecom Sees No Competitive Problems Yet With CenturyLink Minnesota Deregulation
A CenturyLink petition for deregulation in Minnesota attracted CLEC interest, not alarm. The Public Utilities Commission held oral argument Tuesday on whether the telco filed enough information to decide on the deregulation request. Meanwhile in Maine, deregulation of another ILEC, FairPoint Communications, is under way. That state’s commission may soon decide how to respond to FairPoint failures to meet service quality standards in several recent quarters, a PUC spokesman said.
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CenturyLink is seeking deregulation in each of its 108 exchanges in Minnesota. The ILEC asked the commission June 30 to be regulated instead as a CLEC because it serves less than 50 percent of households, and competitors offer service to at least 60 percent of the households in each exchange. Under a deregulation process established by a recent law, the PUC has 180 days to address the petition. But last month, the Minnesota attorney general and the state Department of Commerce said CenturyLink didn’t provide enough information to make a decision (see 1608300025).
TDS Telecom is closely watching the proceeding, but so far the CLEC has raised no red flags. “The petition would not have any impact on CenturyLink’s interconnection and wholesale obligations provided to CLECs,” a TDS spokeswoman told us Tuesday. “We’ll continue to monitor this as it moves forward to ensure competition is not eroded in the business marketplace.”
At its Tuesday meeting, the Minnesota PUC asked CenturyLink for additional information on wireless service availability throughout the state and wholesale information about number porting to competitors, a CenturyLink spokeswoman emailed. "We look forward to providing further information and ultimately having our petition approved." The PUC didn't comment.
FairPoint obtained deregulation in select Maine markets last month under a law passed in April to remove the telco’s provider-of-last-resort obligations in phases (see 1604140058). Aug. 28, FairPoint no longer faced POLR requirements in Auburn, Bangor, Biddeford, Lewiston, Portland, Sanford and South Portland. POLR obligations, also called carrier of last resort (COLR), require ILECs to provide a flat-rate basic phone service in rural areas where the customer base is too small to cover the costs. About half of states continue to require ILECs to provide last-resort service, while the other half have revised or removed them. In 2011, the FCC declined to pre-empt state POLR obligations as long as they are applied in a technology and competitively neutral way.
The Maine PUC has received no customer complaints about the change since it happened, an agency spokesman told us Tuesday. Over the summer, the PUC held a series of informational meetings across the state to inform customers about the change. FairPoint and the Office of Public Advocate came to the hearings, which were attended by 25 to 30 people on average, the PUC spokesman said. The PUC received feedback from attendees that the meetings alleviated their fears about possibly losing phone service, he said.
FairPoint notified affected customers through bills and participated in all seven PUC meetings, a spokeswoman emailed. “Since service is not changing, there is no real customer ‘transition.’ On August 29, things appeared exactly the same to the FairPoint customers as they did on August 28.” In some ways, the announcement of the meetings created anxiety for customers who didn’t know about or understand the new state law, said Maine Public Advocate Tim Schneider. At the meetings, officials tried to convey that phone service wasn’t going away and there would still be competitive options, he said. It’s too early to tell the impact of deregulation, but it’s expected to be minimal, he said.
FairPoint still faces scrutiny by the Maine PUC for the telco’s failure to meet two POLR service quality index benchmarks for seven consecutive quarters. In a May 17 order, the PUC opened an investigation into FairPoint's failure to satisfy the SQI benchmarks in Q1, then consolidated the probe into an open investigation into failures for the previous six quarters. Staff aims to finalize a recommendation this week or next for commissioners to deliberate by the end of September, the PUC spokesman said. The PUC’s next deliberative session is Sept. 27. Schneider said his office supports accountability for service quality failures, but hasn’t seen service quality benchmarks enforced.
Meanwhile, the Vermont Public Service Commission is considering adjusting reporting rules on service quality. In testimony earlier this summer, FairPoint said it needs to report service quality only in locations with no voice competition (see 1608080030). The Vermont Department of Public Service is to file expert reports and testimony Thursday, according to the schedule in docket 8701.