20071123Decision memo.pdf

DECISION MEMORANDUM
TO:COMMISSIONER REDFORD
COMMISSIONER SMITH
COMMISSIONER KEMPTON
COMMISSION SECRETARY
COMMISSION STAFF
FROM:DON HOWELL
DATE:NOVEMBER 23, 2007
SUBJECT:INVESTIGATION INTO VERIZON NORTHWEST'S SERVICE
INTERRUPTIONS IN NORTHERN IDAHO, CASE NO. VZN-07-
On August 13 , 2007 , the Commission issued Order No. 30408 initiating an
investigation into a telephone service complaint filed by the Clearwater Valley Hospital and
Clinics. The Hospital generally alleged that its telephone service from Verizon Northwest was
either intermittent or non-existent from June 12-, 2007." When its telephone service was
interrupted, the Hospital complained that it was unable to perform essential functions such as
calling for air ambulance transportation, arranging for patient transportation, transmitting
radiology images, and providing electronic medical records to physicians. The outages may
have also affected customers in the Peck, Pierce, and W eippe exchanges. Verizon serves more
than 118 000 wireline customers in northern Idaho.
In its Order No. 30408 the Commission directed Verizon to file a report "explaining
the cause or causes of the local exchange outages on June 12-2007." Order No. 30408 at 2.
The Commission also ordered Verizon to address the extent of the service disruptions, the
proposed immediate solutions to the outages, and the long-term plans for addressing the capacity
of the microwave system serving the Orofino area. Id. at 2-3. Verizon was directed to address
whether customers are due a credit for the disruption of their local exchange service pursuant to
Rule 503 , IDAPA 31.41.01.503.01 and .02.
VERIZON'S REPORT
In its timely filed report, Verizon asserted that there were no local exchange outages
in the four exchanges (Orofino, Peck, Weippe and Pierce). The Company did acknowledge that
there was a "degradation of service on part of the microwave radio path that feeds these four
DECISION MEMORANDUM
communities that affected interexchange calls to and from these four exchanges.Verizon
Report at 1. Intra-exchange calling 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). Id.
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
the four exchanges were unaffected by the service degradation, as well as calls between Orofino
and Peck. Id. at 3.
At about noon on June 13 , the microwave radio paths again experience trouble.
Verizon stated that it dispatched additional personnel to inspect and replace various electronic
components in both Orofino and Teaken Butte facilities. Verizon monitored the microwave
paths throughout the night
, "
and there were no errors or service interruptions.Id. On following
day (June 14), the same radio system began experiencing trouble for approximately seven hours.
Verizon and its equipment supplier (Alcatel) were able to isolate and resolve "a number of
problems.Id.
Verizon maintained that it has continued to monitor these radio paths in addition to
performing diagnostics, recalibration and changing-out many of component parts. As a result
these actions, Verizon stated that the radio systems have been running error free since June 14
2007. Nevertheless, Verizon is working with A1catel to change a number of component parts in
an attempt to avoid the problem 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 reported that 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 second quarter" of 2008. At such time as the
completion date is known, the Company will advise the Commission. Supplemental Report at 1.
DECISION MEMORANDUM
OTHER SERVICE DISRUPTIONS
After the Company filed its report, Staff received a report of service outages in
Grangemont (served by Konkolville facilities). The customer complained that he had
experienced about three service outages in the last two weeks.In response to this latest
complaint, the Company indicated that it had upgraded all ten A1catel radio systems to include
all current software and hardware releases. The Company reported that the local service outage
that occurred on November 9 was due to a SONET 1 card that affected approximately 250 to 300
customers in the Konkolville area. Verizon stated that service was restored the following day
(25 hours later) and the Konkolville outage was not related to the Orofino radio system. The
Company indicated that it will be "issuing local service credits as appropriate.
CUSTOMER SERVICE RULE
Telephone Customer Relations Rule 503 requires that when a telephone company
providing local exchange service is notified of a service outage, it must generally restore service
within 24-hours. "If the telephone company does not restore service within the times required by
this subsection the telephone company must credit the customer s account an amount equal to the
monthly rate for one (1) month of basic local exchange service.
31.41.01.503.01(b).
Rule 503., IDAPA
COMMISSION DECISION
Does the Commission find that Verizon s report adequately addresses the microwave
interruptions in the Orofino area? Is the Company s upgrading of software to current releases
and its plans to add capacity to the digital microwave network reasonable?
Is the Commission satisfied with the Company explanation regarding the
Konkolville outage on November 9, 2007?
Anything else?
CYn/
Don Howell
bls/M:VZN-O7-03 dh
I SONET means "Synchronous Optical Network Standard" and is a uniform high-speed fiber optic transmission
standard.
DECISION MEMORANDUM