20020801_220.pdf

DECISION MEMORANDUM
TO:CO MMISSI 0 NER KJELLAND ER
COMMISSIONER SMITH
COMMISSIONER HANSEN
JEAN JEWELL
RANDY LOBB
DON HOWELL
LYNN ANDERSON
JOE CUSICK
BIRDELLE BROWN
CAROLEE HALL
DOUG COOLEY
BEVERLY BARKER
TONYA CLARK
RON LAW
GENE FADNESS
WORKING FILE
FROM:WAYNE HART
DATE:JULY 25, 2002
RE:FORMAL COMPLAINT OF GREG MILDENIUNITED AUTOMOTIVE
ABOUT CENTURYTEL PRICES FOR HIGH SPEED DATA LINE
On April 17th, 2002, the Commission received a formal complaint against CenturyTel of
Idaho from Greg Milden of United Automotive in Salmon requesting Commission review of
CenturyTel ofIdaho s prices for high speed data lines. United Automotive has a high speed data
line from its business in Salmon to a second business located in Hailey in Qwest's service area
with both telephone companies billing for the portion of the line in their service area. Milden
indicated that although the length of the circuit within each company s service area is nearly the
same, CenturyTel's charges are approximately three times those of Qwest. Mr. Milden wants the
Commission to review these charges.
BACKGROUND
Mr. Milden contacted the Commission complaint Staff regarding this issue in late March
and as the issue involved advanced services, the complaint was referred to the Telecom Section.
I spoke with Mr. Milden in early April and explained the ratemaking process and that the charges
DECISION MEMORANDUM JULY 25, 2002
were probably interstate, so probably not set by this Commission. I offered some of the possible
reasons for the large discrepancy: Rural area with higher costs and fewer customers, different
allocation of costs among products, etc. Mr. Milden was not satisfied with the response and I
informed him of his right to file a formal complaint.
STAFF ANALYSIS
The complaint included recent monthly statements from both companies. These identify
CenturyTel charges of$406., with Qwest charges of$154.13. The companies explained the
components of their individual bills as follows:
Channel Termination
Channel Facility
CenturyTel
82.
Qwest
77.
Mileage Fixed
Mileage per mile
CenturyTel (117*55%*$4.30/mi) 276.
Qwest (117 * 45% * $0.46)
43.12.48
24.
Local Network Usage 25.
------------
$406.$154.
CenturyTel indicated their charges were in accordance with the NECA tariff. Qwest indicated
their charges were in accordance with their FCC 1 tariff. Staff does not have copies of either
tariff to verify these claims.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
As the services in question are interstate, the Commission has minimal jurisdiction.
Staffs informal investigation did not reveal any errors in billing or other non-price related
issues. Therefore, Staff recommends the Commission refer the complainant to the Federal
Communications Commission.
DECISION MEMORANDUM JULY 25 2002
COMMISSION DECISION
Does the Commission wish to consider this complaint?
i:udmemos/united auto formal complaint dm
DECISION MEMORANDUM JULY 25 2002