20021115Final_Order_No. 29152.pdf

Office of the Secrete
Service Date
November 15,2002
BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF )CASE NO.GNR-T-02-11CENTURYTELOFTHEGEMSTATE,INC.)AND CENTURYTEL OF IDAHO,INC.FOR )APPROVAL OF A TARIFF ADVICE )CONTAINING DEPOSIT REQUIREMENTSBY )ORDER NO.29152INCUMBENTLOCALEXCHANGECARRIERS)FOR INTEREXCHANGE CARRIERS.)
On June 12,2002,CenturyTel filed two identical tariff advices that proposed changes in
their Access Service Tariffs regarding the deposit requirements for interexchange carriers.On
August 7,2002,the Commission found that CenturyTel's tariff advices raised important policy
issues that could affect all local exchange companies and interexchange carriers operating in Idaho.
Order No.29089 at 1.Accordingly,these advices were treated as applications and processed by
Modified Procedure under the Commission's Rules of Procedure.Id.
On October 28,2002,CenturyTel of the Gem State and CenturyTel of Idaho,Inc.
("CenturyTel")filed a Notice of Withdrawal of its Application pursuant to Commission Rule of
Procedure 68.IDAPA 31.01.01.068.The Company states that it has proceedings relating to similar
deposit requirements currentlyongoing in multiple states.CenturyTel states that because of the
expense associated with these multiple proceedings it is withdrawing its tariff advices in Idaho.
Finally,the Company states that this withdrawal is subject to possible refiling at a later date.All
parties that filed written comments with the Commission in this case have been served with
CenturyTel'sNotice.
COMMISSION DECISION
Pursuant to Rule 68 a party desiring to withdraw a pleading must file a notice of
withdrawal of that pleading with the Commission and serve it on all parties.This notice becomes
effective unless otherwise ordered by the Commission 14 days after filing.Thus,on November 12,
2002,CenturyTel'spleading was automatically withdrawn.However,because this case was
converted to a generic proceeding the Commission finds that CenturyTel's Notice of Withdrawal
cannot close this case automatically.Rather an Order is necessary to close this case not only because
ORDER NO.29152 -l-
it is a generic proceeding but also because of the significant interest generated by CenturyTel's
filings.
After reviewing the record in this case the Commission finds that the case shall be closed
without prejudice because the onlyparty that has filed proposed tariffs containing these new deposit
requirements has now withdrawn them,and no party has filed any opposition to the closing of this
case.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this case is closed without prejudice based on
CenturyTel'swithdrawal of its tariff advices and because no party has filed any opposition to the
closing of this case.
THIS IS A FINAL ORDER.Any person interested in this Order (or in issues finally
decided by this Order)or in interlocutoryOrders previouslyissued in this Case No.GNR-T-02-11
may petition for reconsideration within twenty-one (21)days of the service date of this Order with
regard to any matter decided in this Order or interlocutoryOrders previouslyissued in this case.
Within seven (7)days after any person has petitioned for reconsideration,any other person may
cross-petition for reconsideration.See Idaho Code §§61-626 and 62-619.
'In this generic proceeding several interested parties have filed detailed written comments about the type of securitydepositsthatCenturyTelproposesinitsApplications.For example,in general,the Association of Communications
Enterprises,AT&T Communications of the Mountain States,Inc.and WorldCom,Inc.filedcomments opposing approvalofCenturyTel's Applications and associated proposed tariffs.Potlatch Telephone Company,CenturyTel,the IdahoTelephoneAssociationandVerizonNorthwestInc.have filed written comments in support of these same proposedtariffs.In its written comments the Commission Staff recommended that the Commission deny without prejudiceCenturyTel's proposed tariffs at this time because similar cases were being examined at the Federal Communications
Commission.
ORDER NO.29152 -2-
DONE by Order of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission at Boise,Idaho,this /
day of November 2002.
PAUL KJELI RWRESIDENT
MARSHA H.SMITH,COMMISSIONER
ENNIS S.HAN ,COMMISSIONER
ATTEST:
JeaND.Jewell
Commission Secretary
O:GNRTO211_jh3
ORDER NO.29152 -3-