20130812_4142.pdf

DECISION MEMORANDUM 1
DECISION MEMORANDUM

TO: COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER
COMMISSIONER REDFORD
COMMISSIONER SMITH
COMMISSION SECRETARY
COMMISSION STAFF
LEGAL

FROM: WELDON STUTZMAN
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL

DATE: AUGUST 6, 2013

SUBJECT: QWEST CORPORATION DBA CENTURYLINK QC’S PETITION TO
APPROVE REPLACING THE PERFORMANCE ASSURANCE PLAN,
CASE NO. QWE-T-13-05

On July 31, 2013, Qwest Corporation dba CenturyLink QC (CenturyLink QC) filed a
Petition requesting the Commission approve replacement of the Company’s Idaho Quality
Performance Assurance Plan (Plan or QPAP) with a revised QPAP. The new Plan results from a
settlement agreement between CenturyLink QC and various competitive local exchange carriers
(CLECs) that participated in a Plan review before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
Under the federal Telecommunications of 1996 (1996 Act) CenturyLink is a Bell
Operating Company (BOC) as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 153(35) and also operates as an
“incumbent local exchange carrier” (ILEC) as defined in section 251(h) of the 1996 Act 47
U.S.C. § 251(h). Pursuant to the 1996 Act, CenturyLink is required to enter into interconnection
agreements with other providers of telecommunications services who request access to its
network, facilities or services. See 47 U.S.C. §§ 251-252. Petition, p. 2.
The 1996 Act also provided a means by which BOCs could gain entry into in-region
interLATA services markets from which they had been legally precluded, commonly referred to
as “the 271 process.” See 47 U.S.C. § 271. The focus of the 271 process was on assuring that
the local exchange marketplace was open for wireline competition, that the market would remain
open and that nondiscriminatory service quality would be maintained once the BOCs received
271 approval and re-entered the interLATA service markets. Petition, pp. 2-3.
DECISION MEMORANDUM 2
In seeking FCC approval under Section 271, CenturyLink worked with interested
parties to develop performance measures known as Performance Indicator Definitions (PIDs),
and put into place a QPAP that applied specific standards to the performance data to assure
compliance with Section 271 interconnection requirements. The PIDs and the QPAP became
exhibits to the interconnection agreements that CenturyLink offers to CLECs (specifically,
Exhibits B and K, respectively). Petition, p. 3.
On May 2, 2008, CenturyLink filed a petition with the Commission seeking to
withdraw its Statement of Generally Available Terms (SGAT) and eliminate its QPAP and PIDs.
The Commission granted Qwest’s request to withdraw its SGAT by Order No. 30750 entered
March 17, 2009, but left open Qwest’s request to withdraw its Plan. On July 30, 2010, Qwest
filed an amended petition proposing adoption of a new performance plan (QPAP II) in lieu of
withdrawing the existing QPAP. As that docket progressed, the Commission approved some
changes agreed to by the parties, but the issue of replacement of the existing QPAP with QPAPII
remained undecided. On July 1, 2011, a joint request of CenturyLink and a group of
participating CLECs collectively referred to as “Integra” asked that the Commission take no
further action in the docket “until at least eighteen months after the Closing Date of the
Qwest/CenturyLink merger.” The merger officially closed April 1, 2011. Petition, pp. 3-4.
CenturyLink filed a similar proceeding before the Colorado Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC). The CPUC in 2009 issued Decision No. C09-0747 that began a six-year
review of the Colorado PAP (CPAP). In the review process, the CPUC gave specific directions
regarding some CPAP issues and general directions on other issues, and directed the parties to
negotiate a new CPAP that complied with those directions. The parties in the Colorado CPUC
case ultimately agreed upon a Settlement Agreement and a redesigned CPAP. An integral
provision of that Settlement Agreement was that CenturyLink would petition the other 13 states
in which the QPAP operates seeking the adoption of the redesigned QPAP in place of the QPAPs
currently in effect in the respective states. Petition, p. 4.
CenturyLink’s Petition, which offers a redesign of the current Idaho QPAP, is based
on the Colorado CPAP review and the redesign that was adopted in that jurisdiction and
supported by the CLECs engaged in that docket. Petition, p. 5. CenturyLink provides the
redesigned Idaho QPAP and PIDs as Attachments 1 and 2 to its Petition. Attachment 1 consists
of the redesigned QPAP which constitutes a new Exhibit K for interconnection agreements;
DECISION MEMORANDUM 3
Attachment 2 consists of the new PIDs that constitute Exhibit B for interconnection agreements.
Attachment 3 provides a comprehensive description of changes that the proposed, redesigned
QPAP and PIDs would make to the existing Idaho QPAP and PIDs.
CenturyLink requests that the redesigned QPAP (Attachment 1) and the revised PIDs
(Attachment 2) become effective on January 1, 2014. CenturyLink further requests that the
Commission deem all existing interconnection agreements that currently contain the QPAP be
modified to incorporate these revisions, also effective January 1, 2014, without need for further
filings or approvals. Petition, p. 5.
CenturyLink believes that the public interest may not require a formal hearing in this
matter and requested that review of this Petition proceed under Modified Procedure pursuant to
Rules 201 through 204 of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission’s Rules of Procedure, IDAPA
31.01.01.201-204.
Staff recommends the Commission issue a Notice of Petition and Notice of Modified
Procedure, providing a 30-day comment period for interested parties to file written comments,
followed by a 14-day period to file reply comments.
COMMISSION DECISION
Should the Commission issue a Notice of Petition and Notice of Modified Procedure,
providing a 30-day comment period for interested parties to file written comments, followed by a
14-day period to file reply comments?

Weldon B. Stutzman
Deputy Attorney General

bls/M:QWE-T-13-05_ws