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South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Meeting
Tuesday, June 15, 1999; 8:00 A.M.
State Capitol Building, Room 412
Pierre, South Dakota
MINUTES OF THE AD HOC MEETING
Chairman Jim Burg called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. Present were Commissioner Pam Nelson, Executive Director Bill Bullard, Deputy Director Sue Cichos, General Counsel Rolayne Ailts Wiest, Staff Attorney Karen Cremer, Telecommunications Analyst Harlan Best, Utility Analysts Dave Jacobson, Michele Farris and Keith Senger, Consumer Representative Leni Healy, Legal Intern Jeff Koerselman and Administrative Secretary Shirleen Fugitt.
Also present was Rich Coit, SDITC.
Joining the meeting by phone were Commissioner Laska Schoenfelder; Colleen Sevold, Kelly Champagne, Todd Lundy and Alex Duarte, U S WEST; Loretta Calabro, Telec Consulting; Michele Singer, Mary Jane Rasher and Sandy Hofstetter, AT&T; Mary Lohnes, Midco Communications; and Dan Daly, Rapid City Journal.
Telecommunications
The Commission considered whether to order any changes to the filed dialing parity plans.
Chairman Burg moved to require the following changes be made to the plans:
(1) If a customer currently has an interLATA PIC freeze, the LEC may not automatically extend that freeze to the intraLATA PIC;
(2) Customers shall be allowed at least one intraLATA carrier PIC choice free of charge during the first 60 days following implementation;
(3) If an existing or new customer contacts the LEC to pick or change its intraLATA carrier, the LEC may not market products or services on that same call but may answer customer initiated questions;
(4) Directory assistance calls are not required to be subject to presubscription;
(5) The Commission will allow a thirty day window for solicitation of customers prior to implementation and a LEC may wait until the date of implementation to accept intraLATA PICs;
(6) If a new customer does not indicate a preference for a carrier, the LEC must comply with 47 C.F.R. ' 51.209(c) which prohibits the automatic assignment of a customer's intraLATA toll traffic;
(7) Each LEC shall send notice of the availability of dialing parity regardless of whether it has received any Access Service Requests;
(8) In addition to its customer notification letter, each LEC shall provide a list of companies the customer can choose from and the companies' toll free number;
(9) In the customer notification letter, if the customer wants to change its existing carrier, the customer shall be told to contact the carrier it wants to change to instead of the LEC;
(10) The first sentence and fourth paragraph of AT&T's customer notification letter are not competitively neutral and shall be revised or deleted; and
(11) Each plan shall address the issue of payphones.
Chairman Burg further moved that each LEC that filed a plan that does not meet these requirements, re-file a new plan consistent with these requirements by Friday, June 18, 1999. The Commission will then take final action on the plans on June 22nd. In addition, with respect to U S WEST's request to reclassify its toll services as fully competitive, Chairman Burg moved that the Commission deny the request because in order to reclassify a service, the procedures as outlined in SDCL 49-31-3.2 must be followed. And lastly, Chairman Burg moved that the Commission order the LECs that have failed to notify the Commission of whether they currently provide intraLATA dialing parity to submit written notification prior to June 22, 1999. Commissioner Nelson seconded and Commissioner Schoenfelder concurred. Motion passed 3-0.
2. TC99-041 IN THE MATTER OF THE FILING BY DICKEY RURAL TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE AND ITS WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY, DICKEY RURAL COMMUNICATIONS, INC. FOR APPROVAL OF PETITION FOR SUSPENSION AND MODIFICATION OF DIALING PARITY. (Staff Analyst: Harlan Best. Staff Attorney: Karen Cremer.)
Ms. Wiest recommended deferral. Action was deferred.
Ms. Wiest recommended deferral. Action was deferred.
Ms. Cremer recommended granting Kennebec Telephone Company's petition for suspension and modification of the requirement for implementing intraLATA dialing parity until September 19, 1999.
Commissioner Schoenfelder moved to grant Kennebec Telephone Company's petition for suspension and modification of the requirement for implementing intraLATA dialing parity until September 19, 1999. Chairman Burg seconded and Commissioner Nelson concurred. Motion passed 3-0.
Ms. Cremer recommended granting Western Telephone Company's petition for suspension and modification of the requirement for implementing intraLATA dialing parity until September 15, 1999.
Chairman Burg moved to grant Western Telephone Company's petition for suspension and modification of the requirement for implementing intraLATA dialing parity until September 15, 1999. Commissioner Nelson seconded and Commissioner Schoenfelder concurred. Motion passed 3-0.
Ms. Cremer recommended granting Beresford Municipal Telephone Company's petition for suspension and modification of the requirement for implementing intraLATA dialing parity until September 15, 1999.
Chairman Burg moved to grant Beresford Municipal Telephone Company's petition for suspension and modification of the requirement for implementing intraLATA dialing parity until September 15, 1999. Commissioner nelson seconded and Commissioner Schoenfelder concurred. Motion passed 3-0.
The meeting was adjourned.
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Shirleen Fugitt
Administrative Secretary
