20020828Reply Comments 4 Companies.pdf

Morgan W.Richards,ISB No.1913 C
MOFFATT,THOMAS,BARRETT,ROCK &S CÜí iß$ÜÑ
FIELDS,CHARTERED
101 S.Capitol Boulevard,10th Floor
Post Office Box 829
Boise,Idaho 83701
Telephone:[phone]
Facsimile:[phone]
Attorneys for Citizens Telecommunications Company
of Idaho,CenturyTel of the Gem State and CenturyTel of Idaho,
and Potlatch TelephoneCompany
BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION CASE NO.GNR-T-02-11
OF CENTURYTEL OF THE GEM STATE,
INC.AND CENTURYTEL OF IDAHO,REPLY COMMENTS
INC.FOR APPROVAL OF A TARIFF
ADVICE CONTAINING DEPOSIT
REQUIREMENTSBY INCUMBENT
LOCAL EXCHANGE CARRIERS FOR
INTEREXCHANGE CARRIERS.
COME NOW CenturyTel of the Gem State,Inc.and CenturyTel of Idaho
("CenturyTel"),Potlatch Telephone Company ("Potlatch"),and Citizens Telecommunications
Company of Idaho ("Citizens")and file these Reply Comments as requested by Order No.29089
issued by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission ("Commission")on August 7,2002.
This case involves CenturyTel's application for approval of tariffs establishing
deposit requirements for interexchange carriers.Entities filing comments included:CenturyTel,
Potlatch,Citizens,the Idaho TelephoneAssociation ("ITA"),Qwest Corporation,Verizon
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Northwest,AT&T,the Association of Communications Enterprises,Time Warner
Communications,WorldCom,and the Commission Staff.These Reply Comments will respond
in part to the various comments and join with those parties which have requested the
Commission to either immediately approve the tariff filings or to convene a workshop to address
issues connected with implementation of tariff provisions.
Notwithstandingthe apparent position of AT&T that nothing has changed and
policies adopted in 1984 by the FCC should continue to be relied upon,most of the parties noted
that the "telecommunications industryhas recently experienced significant financial turmoil"and
that there has been a "rapid decline of the telecommunications sector"(Time Warner Comments,
pages 1 and 2).See also Comments of Qwest at page 2.Verizon states that more than 55%of
its total regulated revenues in Idaho are from access services and that its uncollectibles have
doubled from 1999 to 2001 (Verizon comments,page 1).Potlatch went further and stated that
72%of its revenues were related to access revenues.(See Response to Question No.4 by
Potlatch.)Verizon goes on to state that Verizon and its local telephone company affiliates are
currentlyparty to 92 different bankruptcy proceedings.Other LECs are experiencing the same
problems.The situation in 2002 is entirely different than when the FCC adopted its current
policies.The financial stakes for the local exchange companies are extremely high as
demonstrated by the Affidavit of Charles Creason attached to the Comments of the ITA and,as a
result,the issue needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
Some of those commenting and have suggested waiting until the FCC has
reviewed the issue and rendered its opinion.See Comments of Commission Staff at page 2.In
almost the same breath,however,the Staff states:"While recommending no action at this time,
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Staff believes that,depending on the FCC's action,this issue may have to be eventually
examined on an intrastate basis and may require different treatment."(Id.at page 4.)
CenturyTel,Potlatch,and Citizens respectfullysubmit that the time is ripe now for the Idaho
Commission to act.If the Commission is potentiallygoing to review the issue later and even
reach a different decision,then why wait?In addition,CenturyTel,Potlatch,and Citizens share
the ITA's concern that the FCC may be primarily concerned with the survival of interexchange
carriers and may shift losses to the LECs if necessary to achieve its goals.See Comments of ITA
at page 2.CenturyTel,Potlatch,and Citizens request that the Commission take action now to
mitigate the losses that may otherwise have to be passed on to their Idaho ratepayers.
As pointed out by CenturyTel,Potlatch,and Citizens and others filing comments,
the type of relief requested by CenturyTel is not that unusual.This is a standard practice in the
energy trading industry (Comments of ITA at page 3)and non-dominant carriers and suppliers in
other industries already can and do require adequate assurance of payment form customers with
troubled financial situations (Comments of Verizon at page 5).Timely deposits can prevent or
mitigate pre-petition bankruptcy losses for the LECs and the request for security is a normal
request for commercial transactions.
Notwithstanding these policy arguments and others made in Comments filed with
the Commission supporting CenturyTel'stariff,there are implementation and application issues
raised by AT&T and WorldCom that can be clarified through the use of a Commission
workshop.To avoid delay that may be costly to Idaho LECs and their customers,CenturyTel,
Potlatch,and Citizens urge the Commission to issue notice of for a workshop at its earliest
convemence.
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Respectfullysubmitted this 29th day of August,2002.
MOFFATT,THOMAS,BARRETT,ROCK &.
FIELDS,CHARTERED
Morgan W ichards -Of the Fifm
Attorneys for Citizens Telecommunications
Company of Idaho,CenturyTel of the Gem
State and CenturyTel of Idaho,and Potlatch
TelephoneCompany
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I HEREBY CERTIFY that on the 29th day of August,2002,I caused a true and
correct copy of the foregoing REPLY COMMENTS to be served by the method indicated below,and
addressed to the following:
Commission Secretary ().S.Mail,Postage Prepaid
Idaho Public Utilities Commission (Hand Delivered
Post Office Box 83720 ()Overnight Mail
Boise,Idaho 83720-0074 ()Facsimile
Don Dennis (U.S.Mail,Postage Prepaid
CenturyTel of the Gem State,Inc.()Hand Delivered
805 Broadway ()Overnight Mail
Post Office Box 9901 ()Facsimile
ncouver,WA 98668-8701
(U.S.Mail,Postage Prepaid
Manager,External Relations ()Hand Delivered
TDS Telecom ()Overnight Mail
Post Office Box 1566 ()Facsimile
Oregon City,Oregon 97045-1566
Lance Tade (U.S.Mail,Postage Prepaid
Citizens Telecommunications ()Hand Delivered
4 Triad Center,Suite 200 ()Overnight Mail
Salt Lake City,Utah 84180 ()Facsimile
Ted Hankins (U.S.Mail,Postage Prepaid
Century Telephone Enterprises,Inc.()Hand Delivered
Post Office Box 4065 ()Overnight Mail
Monroe,Louisiana 71211-4065 ()Facsimile
Conley Ward (ÁU.S.Mail,Postage Prepaid
Givens Pursley,LLP ()Hand Delivered
277 North 6th Street,Suite 200 ()Overnight Mail
Post Office Box 2720 ()Facsimile
Boise,Idaho 83701-2720
Mary S.Hobson (.S.Mail,Postage Prepaid
Stoel Rives ()Hand Delivered
101 South Capitol Boulevard,Suite 1900 ()Overnight Mail
Boise,Idaho 83702 ()Facsimile
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Mark P.Trinchero (.S.Mail,Postage Prepaid
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP ()Hand Delivered
Suite 2300 ()Ovemight Mail
1300 S.W.Fifth Avenue ()Facsimile
Portland,Oregon 97201
Rebecca DeCook (U.S.Mail,Postage Prepaid
AT&T Communications of the Mountain ()Hand Delivered
States,Inc.()Ovemight Mail
1875 Lawrence Street,Room 1575 ()Facsimile
Denver,Colorado 80202
Brian Thomas (.S.Mail,Postage Prepaid
Time Warner Telecom ()Hand Delivered
520 SW Sixth Avenue,Suite 300 ()Ovemight Mail
Portland,Oregon 97204 ()Facsimile
Walter Blackwell (U.S.Mail,Postage Prepaid
Association of Communications Enterprises ()Hand Delivered
1401 K Street NW,Suite 600 ()Overnight Mail
Washington,D.C.20005 ()Facsimile
Allan T.Thoms ()U.S.Mail,Postage Prepaid
Verizon Northwest Inc.()Hand Delivered
()Overnight Mail
()Facsimile
Dean J.Miller (U.S.Mail,Postage Prepaid
McDevitt &Miller LLP ()Hand Delivered
420 West Bannock Street ()Ovemight Mail
Post Office Box 2564-83701 ()Facsimile
Boise,Idaho 83702
Morgan W.R s
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