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South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Meeting
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 at 1:30 P.M.
State Capitol Building, Room 468
Pierre, South Dakota
NOTE: If you wish to join this meeting by conference call, please contact the Commission at 605-773-3201 by 12:00 p.m. on February 17, 2004.
NOTE: Notice is further given to persons with disabilities that this Commission meeting is being held in a physically accessible place. If you have special needs, please notify the Commission and we will make all necessary arrangements.
AGENDA OF THE COMMISSION MEETING
Administration
1. Approval of the Minutes of the Commission Meeting Held on January 20, 2004. (Staff: Tina Douglas.)
Consumer Issues
1. Status Report on Consumer Utility Inquiries and Complaints Received by the Commission. (Consumer Affairs: Jim Mehlhaff.)
Complainant alleges that MCIWorldCom (MCI) has overbilled S&S Communications' (S&S) corporate account for the months of January through November 2000; MCI has direct billed S&S customers for unauthorized service at casual rates; MCI has provided poor service, slow or no switching of S&S subscriber base orders, not provided MCI LOA forms and proper information; MCI has stalled and mis-provisioned S&S dedicated T-1 facilities; MCI has frozen S&S service orders and its corporate account; and that MCI has performed in an overall unethical manner in its treatment of S&S and its customers. The complainant requests that MCI refund or credit S&S for the over- charges; refund all monies that S&S paid as a result of the alleged unauthorized direct billings of its customers; that the Commission hold MCI accountable for its actions according to state and federal law; compensation for the delay in transitioning its dedicated facilities; that MCI compensate S&S for administration costs, lost revenues, and expenses relating to the complaint issue; and that the Commission bar MCI from disconnecting S&S and its customers before the Commission can rule on the merits of the complaint filed. On June 25, 2001, MCI filed a Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative, to Stay Further Proceedings. The Commission heard the matter at the July 10, 2001, regular meeting and deferred action. The Commission heard the matter again a July 24, 2001, meeting and an Order Granting Motion to Stay Further Proceedings was issued on August 3, 2001.
TODAY, shall the Commission dismiss the complaint and close the docket?
On October 29, 2003, the Commission received a complaint filed by Black Hills FiberCom, L.L.C. (FiberCom) against Qwest Corporation (Qwest) regarding intrastate switched access charges applied to ISP-Bound calls. According to the Complainant's representative, Qwest is taking the position that under its intrastate tariff it may charge FiberCom intercarrier switched access charges when a FiberCom customer initiates a call to a Qwest served ISP which is within FiberCom's local calling area, but is between Qwest's local exchanges. The Complainant disagrees and is requesting a Commission's determination of whether such charges are appropriate. On January 14, 2004, the parties requested that the Commission issue an Order For And Notice Of Procedural Schedule And Hearing based on a Stipulated Agreement between the parties. On January 20, 2004, the Commission voted unanimously to issue an Order Approving Stipulated Agreement to Scheduling Order. FiberCom has requested that the Commission establish a date for filing and arguing motions relating to the subject matter jurisdiction of the Commission over FiberCom's complaint.
TODAY, shall the Commission issue an Order For And Notice Of Motion Deadline And Hearing on the issue of whether the Commission has subject matter jurisdiction over the complaint filed by Fibercom?
Electric
Application by Otter Tail Power Company (Otter Tail) for approval to revise its tariffed Summary List of Contracts with Deviations. The existing contract with the Village of White Rock will expire on March 1, 2004. Otter Tail states the new agreement does not contain any deviations from Otter Tail's currently filed tariff and therefore requests that reference to a contract with the Village of White Rock be removed from the Summary List of Contracts with Deviations. Otter Tail has requested the application be approved with less than 30 days notice.
TODAY, shall the Commission approve the proposed tariff revisions with less than 30 days notice?
Telecommunications
On October 31, 2002, WWC License, L.L.C. (Western Wireless), a commercial mobile radio service provider operating under the trade name CellularOne, filed for the Commission to arbitrate the unresolved issues remaining after negotiations for an interconnection agreement between Western Wireless and the small independent, cooperative, and municipal local exchange companies failed to reach agreement. The unresolved issues are: Scope of Reciprocal Compensation Obligations; Delivery of Land-To-Mobile Traffic; Rates For Reciprocal Compensation; Symmetrical Compensation at a Tandem Rate; Application of Tariffs; Local Numbers; Allocation of Billing Costs; Standard of Service; Usage Levels; Access to Numbering Resources; Dialing Parity; Procedure for Renegotiation; Reciprocal Compensation Credit Factor; Shared Facility Factor; Transit Rates; and Carrier Specific Information. An order granting intervention to PrairieWave Community Telephone, Inc.; assessing a filing fee; adopting a stipulated procedural schedule; and Order for and Notice of Hearing was issued on January 3, 2003.
TODAY, shall the Commission dismiss and close the docket?
On June 19, 2003, Midcontinent Communications filed a Petition For Waiver pursuant to ARSD 20:10:33:30 with the Commission. On July 10, 2003, the South Dakota Telecommunications Association filed a Petition to Intervene with the Commission. Northern Valley Communications, L.L.C. filed a Petition to Intervene with the Commission on July 22, 2003. The Commission granted intervention to SDTA and Northern Valley a August 4, 2003, meeting.
TODAY, shall the Commission approve the Stipulation and grant the Petition for Waiver in accordance with the terms of the Stipulation?
Touchtone Communications, Inc. filed an application seeking a Certificate of Authority to provide interexchange telecommunications services in South Dakota The Applicant is a reseller which intends to offer interexchange services, including 1+ and 101XXXX outbound dialing, 800/888 Toll-Free inbound dialing, directory assistance, data services and travel card services.
TODAY, shall the Commission grant a Certificate of Authority to Touchtone Communications, Inc.?
On December 15, 2003, Lightyear Communications, Inc. and Lightyear Network Solutions, LLC. filed a joint applications for a transfer of interexchange authority from Lightyear Communications, Inc. to Lightyear Network Solutions, LLC.
TODAY, shall the Commission approve a transfer of Certificate of Authority from Lightyear Communications, Inc. to Lightyear Network Solutions, LLC.?
On December 24, 2003, Phonetec PCS, LLC filed an application for a Certificate of Authority to provide resold interexchange telecommunication service in South Dakota. Phonetec intends to offer 1+ and 101XXXX outbound dialing, 800/888 Toll-Free inbound dialing, directory assistance, data services and postpaid calling card service throughout South Dakota.
TODAY, shall the Commission grant a Certificate of Authority to Phonetec PCS, LLC?
6. In the Matter of Approving Agreements in TC04-002, TC04-004, TC04-005, TC04-007, TC04-008, and TC04-009
On January 7, 2004, the Commission received a Filing for Approval of Statement of Generally Available Terms And Conditions For Interconnection, Unbundled Network Elements, Ancillary Services and Resale of Telecommunications Services between Qwest Corporation (Qwest) and Sprint Communications Company, LP (Sprint). According to the parties, the Agreement is a negotiated agreement which sets forth the terms, conditions and prices under which Qwest will provide services for resale to Sprint for the provision of local exchange services.
On January 9, 2004, the Commission received a Filing for Approval of a Reciprocal Transport and Termination Agreement between Brookings Municipal Utilities d/b/a Swiftel Communications and PrairieWave Telecommunications, Inc. According to the filing, the parties wish to put in place an arrangement for the mutual exchange and reciprocal compensation of local telecommunications traffic in accord with the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which is intended to supersede any previous arrangements between the parties relating to such traffic.
On January 9, 2004, the Commission received a Filing for Approval of a Reciprocal Transport and Termination Agreement between Brookings Municipal Utilities d/b/a Swiftel Communications and PrairieWave Community Telephone, Inc. According to the filing, the parties wish to put in place an arrangement for the mutual exchange and reciprocal compensation of local telecommunications traffic in accord with the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which is intended to supersede any previous arrangements between the parties relating to such traffic.
On January 16, 2004, the Commission received a Filing for Approval of Statement of Generally Available Terms and Conditions for Interconnection, Unbundled Network Elements, Ancillary Services and Resale of Telecommunications Services between Qwest Corporation (Qwest) and XO Network Services, Inc. (Fourth Revision) (XO Network). According to the parties, the Agreement is a negotiated agreement which sets forth the terms, conditions and prices under which Qwest will provide services for resale to XO Network for the provision of local exchange services.
On January 16, 2004, the Commission received a Filing for Approval of Statement of Generally Available Terms and Conditions for Interconnection, Unbundled Network Elements, Ancillary Services and Resale of Telecommunications Services between Qwest Corporation (Qwest) and Granite Telecommunications, LLC. (Fourth Revision) (Granite). According to the parties, the Agreement is a negotiated agreement which sets forth the terms, conditions and prices under which Qwest will provide services for resale to Granite for the provision of local exchange services.
On January 20, 2004, the Commission received a Filing for Approval of an Amendment to an Interconnection Agreement between Qwest Corporation (Qwest) and Z-Tel Communications, Inc. (Z-Tel). According to the parties, the Amendment is made in order to add the terms, conditions and rates for UNE-P Line Splitting, as set forth in Attachment 1 and Exhibit A to the Amendment.
TODAY, shall the Commission approve the proposed agreements?
On January 20, 2004, Qwest Corporation (Qwest) filed revised pages to its South Dakota Access Service Tariff. According to Qwest, "these revisions modify the intrastate jurisdictional reporting requirements for switched access traffic. This filing proposes to modify tariffs to allow customers to self-report a Percent Other Messages (POM) of intrastate use. Customers will be asked to self-declare a POM in addition to their PIU [Percent Intrastate Usage]. Qwest requests this filing to be effective February 16, 2004." Qwest has filed to reduce the Carrier Common Line rate to $0.038420 from $0.038905 and to introduce Message Charges to the Common Channel Signaling Network. On February 5, 2004, AT&T Communications of the Midwest, Inc. (AT&T) filed a Petition for Leave to Intervene.
TODAY, shall the Commission grant AT&T's Petition for Intervention?
Announcements
1. The next regularly scheduled Commission meeting will be held March 2, 2004, at 9:30 a.m., in Room 412, at Pierre, South Dakota.
2. Commission meetings are scheduled for March 23 and April 6, 2004.
3. The PUC offices will be closed February 16, 2004, in observance of Presidents' Day.
4. The PUC is co-hosting Building Science for Residential Contractors workshops in Sioux Falls on Wednesday, February 25, and in Watertown on Thursday, February 26, 2004
5. Commissioners and Staff will be attending the NARUC winter meeting in Washington, DC March 6 - 10, 2004.
______________________
Heather K. Forney
Deputy Executive Director
heather.forney@state.sd.us
February 11, 2004
