20130522press release.pdf

Idaho Public Utilities Commission
Case No. CEN-T-13-02
May 22, 2013
Contact: Gene Fadness [phone], 890-2712
Website: www.puc.idaho.gov

Telephone company serving Salmon area elects to deregulate

CenturyTel of Idaho has notified the Idaho Public Utilities Commission that it intends to
remove its telecommunications services from price regulation effective July 2.

CenturyTel’s filing does not immediately impact rates for the company’s approximate
2,960 customers in Salmon, Leadore and North Fork.

In 2005, the Idaho Legislature amended the Telecommunications Act of 1988 to allow
telephone corporations to elect to set their own rates rather than have them
established by the commission. CenturyTel is part of CenturyLink (formerly Qwest), the
large telecommunications company that advocated price deregulation in 2005, arguing
that increased competition in the telecommunications field made it no longer necessary
for the commission to set customer rates.

However, the commission retains authority to regulate customer service issues such as
service quality standards, customer notice and customer relations rules and billing
practices. CenturyTel’s price lists must still be filed with the commission even though
the commission will not set rates.

CenturyLink, then Qwest, initially sought price deregulation from the Idaho commission
in 2003, but the commission denied the company’s petition, ruling that cell phone
service did not yet provide effective competition to landline telephone service. In 2004,
Qwest asked the Idaho Legislature to amend the statute to allow price deregulation. The
company’s 2004 attempt failed, but an amended version passed the House in 2005 by a
48-22 vote. In the Senate, HB 224 ended in a tie vote with the Senate president, then Lt.
Gov. Jim Risch, breaking the tie in favor of the bill.

Shortly thereafter, Qwest elected to price deregulate in both its northern and southern
Idaho regions as did Verizon Northwest (now Frontier Communications).

There are nine rural telephone companies in Idaho that are still price regulated. Eight of
those still receive Universal Service Fund (USF) disbursements. That fund helps rural
companies provide service in areas where greater distances and fewer customers make
providing service more costly than in urban areas. If those rural companies elected to
price deregulate they would no longer receive USF disbursements.

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