20080107final_order_no_30483.pdf

Office of the Secretary
Service Date
January 7 2008
BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE INVESTIGATION
REGARDING THE DISRUPTION OF
VERIZON NORTHWEST INc.'S LOCAL EXCHANGE SERVICE
CASE NO. VZN-07-
ORDER NO. 30483
On June 27, 2007, Clearwater Valley Hospital and Clinics in Orofino filed a "formal"
complaint against Verizon Northwest Inc. The hospital alleged that its local phone service from
Verizon was "either intermittent or non-existent from June 12-, 2007.The service
disruptions also affected other customers in the Orofino, Peck, Pierce and Weippe exchanges.
Verizon provides telecommunications services to more than 118 000 wireline customers in 34
exchanges in northern Idaho.
On August 13, 2007, the Commission issued Order No. 30408 initiating an
investigation into the hospital's complaint. The Commission directed Verizon to file a report
explaining the cause(s) of the service interruptions. The Commission also ordered Verizon to
address the extent of the service disruptions, the immediate solutions to the outages, and the
long-term plans for addressing the capacity of the microwave system serving the Orofino area.
Finally, the Commission directed Verizon to address whether customers are due a credit for the
disruption of their local exchange service pursuant to Telephone Customer Relations Rule 503
IDAPA 31.41.01.503.01 and .02.
BACKGROUND
A. Configuration of the Local Network
Since 1993 , Verizon s predecessor (GTE Northwest) has offered its northern Idaho
customers a choice of four local calling plans (LCPs). The LCPs converted what were once
long-distance (toll) calls on routes of 23 or fewer miles to local exchange calls. Order No. 26330
at 1. In essence, the LCPs enabled customers "to utilize toll-free extended area service calling
options to (call) certain nearby communities." Application at 1 (Case No. GTE-95-3).
In 1996, the LCP program was expanded to the exchanges of Orofino, Peck, Pierce
and Weippe. Customers in these four exchanges were offered three LCP options called Basic
ORDER NO. 30483
Calling, Community Calling, and Community Plus Calling. 1 With Basic Calling, a customer
pays a monthly flat-rate amount, and all calling within the home exchange is billed at rates based
on distance and duration of the call (i., measured service). With the Community Calling
option, there is unlimited calling for a flat monthly charge within the originating local exchange
and measured rates to nearby exchanges. Community Plus Calling is flat monthly rates for calls
within and to nearby exchanges, and measured rates to farther exchanges. Order No. 26330 at
Verizon Local Service Price List No. 1 , ~ 4.
B. The Hospital's Complaint
When its telephone service was interrupted, the hospital complained that it was
unable to perform several essential functions. These functions included: Calling for air
ambulance transportation; arranging for a patient transport; transmitting radiology images; and
providing electronic medical record information to physicians. During the service interruptions
the hospital explained that it had to rely on a backup communications system by routing calls
through Boise.
VERIZON'REPORT
The Company filed its initial report on September 11 , 2007. Verizon asserted there
were no local exchange "outages" in the four exchanges (Orofino, Peck, Weippe and Pierce).
The Company explained there was a "degradation of service on part of the microwave radio path
that feeds these four communities that affected interexchange calls to and from these four
exchanges.Verizon Report at 1. Calling within each local exchange was unaffected. The
Company explained that a component failure in the microwave system caused '~half of the
service capacity to be interrupted for several hours" on three different days:June 12
(approximately four hours), June 13 (approximately five hours), and June 14 (approximately
seven hours).
Verizon explained that the Orofino central office is served by digital microwave
facilities located at Teaken Butte. At about noon on June 12, one of the two microwave radios
between Teaken Butte and Orofino "experienced a service degradation for approximately four
hours." Report at 2. The "degradation" affected three of the six radio paths from Teaken Butte
to Orofino. Id During these four hours, calls to and from Pierce and Weippe could not be
completed. Despite the service interruption, the Company stated that local calls within each of
1 The fourth LCP option, Premium Service, was not available to these four exchanges.
ORDER NO. 30483
the four exchanges, as well as calls between Orofino and Peck, were unaffected by the service
degradation. Id at 3.
At about noon on June 13 , the microwave radio paths again experienced trouble.
Verizon stated that it dispatched additional personnel to inspect and replace various electronic
components in both the Orofino and Teaken Butte microwave facilities. Verizon monitored the
microwave paths throughout the night
, "
and there were no errors or service interruptions.
On the following day (June 14), the same radio system experienced trouble for approximately
seven hours. Verizon and its equipment supplier (Alcatel) were able to isolate and resolve "
number of problems.
Verizon maintained that it has continued to monitor these radio paths in addition to
performing diagnostics, recalibrating and replacing many of the component parts. As a result of
these actions, Verizon stated the radio systems have been running error free since June 14 2007.
Nevertheless, Verizon is working with Alcatel to change more component parts in an attempt to
keep the microwave disruptions from recurring. Verizon received and installed the additional
replacement components in September 2007. Id at 4.
In a Supplemental Report received September 18, 2007, Verizon stated its long-term
plan for addressing the microwave problem is to add additional high-capacity circuits. The
Company indicated that engineering and planning for this construction project will begin in early
2008 with construction "expected to start in the second quarter" of 2008. At such time as the
completion date is known, the Company will advise the Commission. Supplemental Report at
SUBSEQUENT COMPLAINTS
While the hospital's complaint was pending, the Commission Staff received two
other local service complaints from Verizon customers. In the first complaint, an assistant fire
chief for the Upper Fords Creek Rural Fire Department complained that his phone service was
lost on September 1 , 2007. The assistant chief also reported that his 911 service was disabled.
When he reported the outage to Verizon, he said the Verizon service representative stated that
repairs could not be made until after the three-day Labor Day weekend. In response to this
complaint, Verizon explained that a telephone cable shorted out affecting seven customers in the
Upper Fords Creek area. The Company reported that it restored service on September 4, 2007
and the Company "issued credits equal to one month of basic local exchange service to those
customers who informed us of the service outage.
ORDER NO. 30483
The second customer complaint concerned customers in the Konkolville and
Grangemont areas of the Orofino exchange. At around noon on November 9, 2007, local service
was disrupted due to a defective SONET2 card that may have affected approximately 250 to 300
customers. Verizon reported that service was restored the following day (25 hours later) and the
Konkolville/Grangemont outage was not related to the Orofino microwave system. Verizon
indicated that it will be "issuing local service credits as appropriate.
DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS
We first take up the hospital's complaint. We agree with the hospital that the
disruption of its telephone service is a serious matter. Indeed, our Telephone Customer Relations
Rule 503.01.a requires that "a service outage that creates an emergency for the customer" be
restored within 16 hours after the Company is notified. IDAPA 31.41.01.503.01.a. In this case
the hospital had a backup communications system that mitigated some of the disruption.
Based upon our review of the Company s report, it appears the Company reasonably
responded to the complaints of service outage. Unfortunately, the repairs were not entirely
successful and it did take Verizon three days to finally "fix" the microwave problem. To address
the underlying problem, Verizon plans to improve in 2008 the capacity of the digital microwave
serving the Orofino and neighboring exchanges. While upgrading the software and hardware of
the digital microwave system apparently resulted in a more stable network, we agree with the
Company that additional capacity appears necessary to serve this area.
Until the capacity additions are installed, we find it is reasonable for the Company to
provide monthly trouble reports detailing the quality of local telecommunications services in the
exchanges ofOrofino, Peck, Pierce, and Weippe. Beginning February 2008 and each month
thereafter, the Company shall provide the Commission with a report of service outages for the
prior calendar month. For outages that affect more than 10 customers, the report shall detail the
location, cause and corrective action. The report shall also indicate the percentage of out-of-
service trouble reports cleared in accordance with Rule 503.01 and 503.02. See also Rules
502.01 and 503.03. The monthly report shall continue until the additional microwave capacity is
installed.
2 SONET means "Synchronous Optical Network Standard" and is a uniform high-speed fiber optic transmissionstandard.
ORDER NO. 30483
We are also troubled by the Company s response to the two other customer
complaints discussed above. We find that waiting to restore telephone service until the
conclusion of the three-day Labor Day weekend is unreasonable in light of the minimum repair
standard set out in our Telephone Customer Relations Rule 503.01. This rule generally requires
that local service be restored within 24 hours after the report of an outage during the week and
within 48 hours when the outage is reported between noon on Saturday and 6 p.m. on the
following Sunday. IDAPA 31.41.01.503.01. The Company has not indicated that there were
any extenuating circumstances that would preclude it from making the necessary repairs to the
cable. Telephone Customer Relations Rule 503.02. While we recognize that the shorted-out
cable affected only seven customers, this outage lasted at least three days and affected 911
service, as well as local landline service to the assistant fire chief. The Commission requires at
least 90% of customer out-of-service reports be cleared within the time limits set out above.
Rule 503., IDAPA 31.41.01.503.03.
We next address Verizon s compliance with our rules about crediting a customer
account when local exchange service is not restored within the time limits set out above.
Customers who report a service outage to the local exchange company are to be "automatically
credited" with at least one month of local exchange service if their service is not restored in a
timely manner. Rules 501.02 and 503.01.b. Our rules establish the minimum repair standards
and recognize the possibility of extenuating circumstances. See Rule 503.02.
Verizon has a responsibility to credit a customer s account when local exchange
service is not restored within the time limits set out above. Although Verizon is no longer
subject to the Commission s rate-setting authority found in Title 61 , the Commission has adopted
the Telephone Customer Relations Rules for companies providing local service under Title 62.
Rule 103, IDAP A 31.42.01.103. When Title 61 or 62 telecommunications companies have not
restored local service in accordance with the Commission s rules or demonstrated that there were
extenuating circumstances, then Rule 501 requires that "(c)ustomer s bills must be appropriately
and automatically credited" . . . "for an amount equal to the monthly rate for one (1) month of
basic local exchange service.Rule 501.02 and 503.01.b. Consequently, Verizon shall
automatically" credit the accounts of affected customers whose service was not restored in a
manner consistent with Rule 503. Verizon shall advise us of the total number of customer
credits it has provided in the report due no later than February 11 2008.
ORDER NO. 30483
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Verizon Northwest provide monthly reports to the
Commission Secretary regarding local service outages in the northern Idaho exchanges identified
above. These reports shall be due by the 11 th of each month beginning February 11 , 2008 , and
continue until such time as the Company reports it has installed the new facilities to improve the
capacity of the Orofino microwave system.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Verizon properly credit customer bills for monthly
local service credits in compliance with Telephone Customer Relations Rules 501 through 503
IDAP A 31.41.01.501-503. The Company shall identify the total number of local service credits
provided pursuant to Rules 501 through 503 in the first report due no later than February 11
2008.
THIS IS A FINAL ORDER. Any person interested in this Order may petition for
reconsideration within twenty-one (21) days of the service date of this Order. Within seven (7)
days after any person has petitioned for reconsideration, any other person may cross-petition for
reconsideration. See Idaho Code ~ 61-626.
ORDER NO. 30483
DONE by Order of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission at Boise, Idaho this TTA
day of January 2008.
MACK A. REDFORD, PRE IDEN
RSHA H. SMITH, COMMISSIONER
ATTEST:
/~N.
je(ah D. Jewell
C~mmission Secretary
blsNZN-07-03 dh2
ORDER NO. 30483