20000110Comments.doc

WELDON B. STUTZMAN
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL
IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
PO BOX 83720
BOISE, IDAHO 83720-0074
[phone]
IDAHO BAR NO. 3283

Street Address for Express Mail:
472 W WASHINGTON
BOISE ID 83702-5983

Attorney for the Commission Staff

BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

IN THE MATTER OF THE JOINT APPLICATION OF GTE NORTHWEST INCORPORATED AND NEXTLINK IDAHO, INC. FOR APPROVAL OF AN AGREEMENT FOR INTERCONNECTION PURSUANT TO 47 U.S.C.  252(e).
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CASE NO. GTE-T-99-8

COMMENTS OF THE
COMMISSION STAFF

COMES NOW the Staff of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, by and through its Attorney of Record, Weldon B. Stutzman, Deputy Attorney General, and in response to the Notice of Joint Petition for Approval of Interconnection Agreement and Notice of Modified Procedure issued in Order No.28231, on December 21, 1999, submits the following Comments.
On December 3, 1999, GTE Northwest Incorporated (GTE) and Nextlink Idaho, Inc. (Nextlink), a competitive provider of telecommunication services, submitted a Joint Application for approval of an Interconnection, Resale and Unbundling Agreement in accordance with Section 252(e)(1), (2)(A) of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Companies indicated the Agreement had been reached through voluntary negotiations, and claimed the Agreement was not discriminatory against any other company, and that it is consistent with the public interest, convenience and necessity. They requested the Commission approve the Agreement without a hearing or intervention by other parties.
Staff reviewed the language of this Agreement and did not find any terms or conditions that Staff would consider discriminatory. This is the first interconnection agreement submitted by GTE to include rates for unbundled elements. Staff does not have the information necessary to evaluate the reasonableness of these rates, or the extent to which they are based upon GTE's forward looking costs, as required by the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. Therefore, Staff's Comments do not address these issues. The rates are the product of voluntary negotiations between the two parties. As GTE is required to make these terms available to any other carrier that requests them, Staff does not find these terms to be discriminatory. As the availability of terms for unbundled elements increases the likelihood that competitors will decide to provide competition in GTE's service area, Staff concurs with the Companies claim that the Agreement is consistent with the pro-competitive policies of the Commission, the Idaho Legislature, and the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and therefore is consistent with the public interest.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Commission approve the Interconnection Agreement as filed.
DATED at Boise, Idaho, this __ day of January, 2000.

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Weldon B. Stutzman
Deputy Attorney General
Technical Staff: Wayne Hart

WS:WH/va/i:wpfiles/umisc/comments/gtet998.wsw

STAFF COMMENTS 1 JANUARY 10, 2000