[1st-mile-nm] PRC - CenturyLink

Mon Sep 2 10:19:26 PDT 2013

Pretty much, but the Commission does exercise jurisdiction over wireless consumer protection issues (billing issues primarily).

Michael Ripperger
Telecommunications Bureau Chief
Utility Division
New Mexico Public Regulation Commission
1120 Paseo De Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Phone 1-505-827-6902
Faz 1-505-827-4402

From: 1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf Of Roman Maes
Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2013 7:32 PM
To: Gillian Densmore
Cc: rl at 1st-mile.com; 1st mile nm
Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] PRC - CenturyLink

PRC has no jurisdiction over cable or wireless.....
Roman Maes
NMPR
505-469-1342

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 31, 2013, at 12:42 PM, Gillian Densmore <gil.densmore at gmail.com<mailto:gil.densmore at gmail.com>> wrote:
What does that do for a bloke like me? I ask because in santa fe  the only people I here about providing a wire to my house is Comcast. It's my understanding that cybermesa just rents the access to the wires. I'd speculate it's possible one reason why Cellular has been getting momentum is kind of pragmatics: from one doodad: I can call, and use the intertubes, the same doodad will happly let my computers use the internet (all for 80-90 a month)
I'll toss in one  caveat: T-mobile and Verizon, play dirty with the language used in the contract by that I meen in the case of Tmobile 'unlimited' hotspotness actually means that close to a arbitrarily set amount of data munched up they will drop you from "4G" down to Edge.

On Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 11:26 AM, Richard Lowenberg <rl at 1st-mile.com<mailto:rl at 1st-mile.com>> wrote:

NM PRC moving to deregulate land line phone business

http://www.abqjournal.com/254646/biz/nm-prc-moving-to-deregulate-land-line-phone-business.html

By Kevin Robinson-Avila / Journal Staff Writer | 2 days ago

The state Public Regulation Commission ruled Wednesday that most of New
Mexico’s residential telephone market is competitive enough to ease
regulations for CenturyLink.

The PRC voted 3-2 to declare the residential market for “packaged and
bundled” telephone services competitive in 61 of the 65 areas that
CenturyLink serves in New Mexico, reflecting steady growth of wireless
and cable-telephone providers in those places.

The finding allows the commission to move to the next phase of the case
to determine appropriate regulatory relief for CenturyLink, such as
eliminating price controls and quality-of-service standards.

Any regulatory changes, however, only will affect packaged services –
which encompass basic phone lines with added features such as caller ID
and call waiting – as well as bundled contracts that contain
non-telephone services like Internet.

Regulation will continue for basic, stand-alone telephone lines and for
services provided to business customers, since the commission did not
find those markets to be competitive.

CenturyLink, which acquired Qwest Communications International in 2011,
is the state’s largest provider of traditional landline phone service.

But the local customer base under Qwest and now CenturyLink has fallen
nearly 48 percent since 2001 as cellphone use has exploded and as
cable-telephone and Internet-based services have spread.

CenturyLink petitioned the PRC in fall 2011 to declare that effective
competition exists in all market segments throughout New Mexico to pave
the way for regulatory relief.

In the end, however, the commission accepted PRC hearing examiner
Carolyn Glick’s limited finding of competition just in packaged and
bundled residential services.

On the other hand, the commission rejected Glick’s recommendation to
declare those residential services competitive in all 65 CenturyLink
service areas, leaving regulation intact in four rural zones.

It also rejected a recommendation to give CenturyLink another
opportunity to present evidence of competition in more market segments,
encouraging commissioners Pat Lyons and Valerie Espinoza to vote against
the final order.

“I think CenturyLink has a lot of competition from wireless providers,
and I don’t think they’ll get much regulatory relief with this order,”
Lyons said. “I also think they should have gotten a second chance to
prove their case.”

The case will now go back to the hearing examiner to consider
regulatory reform, a process that could take up to six to eight months,
Glick told the Journal.

-----------------------------------------
Richard Lowenberg, Executive Dir.
1st-Mile Institute, 505-603-5200
P.O.Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
www.1st-mile.org<http://www.1st-mile.org>  rl at 1st-mile.org<mailto:rl at 1st-mile.org>
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