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There is a NM Public Regulation Commission (PRC) hearing on Monday,
<b><u>July 28, 2008 at 9:30 am in the PERA Building</u></b> regarding
whether Qwest can or cannot use $40 million dollars of the $270 million
that was allocated under the Second Amended (AFOR) Settlement Agreement
(SASA) to build a CyberCenter in Albuquerque. This is about 15% of
the SASA money. The case number is 07-00184.<br><br>
The SASA stated that Qwest was to spend $270 million over a 42 month
period in five critical areas (see below) with some of the money to be
spent over a shorter time frame. It also stipulated that $15 million be
returned to Qwest's customers as credits on their phone bills within 120
days of the March 2007 effective date.<br><br>
The PRC usually asks for public comment at the beginning of a hearing.
While public comment is not "evidence" and is not included in
the "record" of the hearing, Commissioners are usually
sensitive to the wishes of their constituents. <br><br>
<font size=4 color="#FF0000"><b>Because several of you have to travel
unusually long distances to provide public comment, I have asked the PRC
Associate General Counsel, Allen Ferguson, if he would be amenable to
setting up a "conference call bridge" for people who wished to
give public comment to be able to dial into. He has made such
arrangements with the concurrence of the
Commissioners.</b></font><font size=4> <br><br>
</font><font size=4 color="#0000FF"><b>That bridge will be available to
anyone who wants to provide public comment on this issue, but they must
notify Cecilia Rios at the PRC General Counsel's office <u>by Friday at
4:00 pm</u> that they will be using the bridge so she can plan for it
appropriately.<br><br>
You must call Cecilia at 505 827-4501 or send her email at
cecilia.rios@state.nm.us with your name, address, and phone number if you
want to call in and make some public comments on this issue.<br><br>
The bridge will be available at 9:40 AM on Monday the 28th for a short
while to allow people (who notify Cecilia Rios first) from all areas of
the state to provide input to the Commissioners on this specific
issue.<br><br>
I.E.
<dl>
<dd>1) yes - Qwest should get to use the money for the Cybercenter in
Albuquerque since we do not need Qwest to spend that money on Qwest's
network
<dd>
<dd>or<br><br>
<dd>2) no - Qwest should spend the money on their network, especially in
rural areas, not on another Cybercenter in Albuquerque.
</dl>Please do not bring up any other issue during this particular
meeting unless it is relevant to this discussion.<br><br>
The telephone number for the bridge is 1-866-295-5950. The PIN is 5754422
and then a # on your phone keypad. <br><br>
</b></font>Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. You
may forward this email to others who may be interested in providing
public comment.<br><br>
Marianne Granoff<br>
Chair, Public Affairs Committee<br>
New Mexico Internet Professionals Association<br>
505 980-7919<br><br>
The Second Amended Settlement Agreement is here:<br>
<a href="http://www.nmprc.state.nm.us/utility/telecommunications/pdf/qwestafor/amendedsettlementagreementclean1215063.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.nmprc.state.nm.us/utility/telecommunications/pdf/qwestafor/amendedsettlementagreementclean1215063.pdf</a>
<br><br>
The SASA had five project areas for investment. Below is a very simple
review of those five areas:<br><br>
1) <u>High Speed Internet Access Project</u> - where Qwest would
provision high speed Internet (DSL) to 83% of Qwest’s New Mexico Working
Living Units in Qwest’s service area. "Qwest will provide 90% of its
Working Qualified Living Units in New Mexico with speed(s) of at least
512kbps upload and from 512kbps to 1.5mbps download. Internet access
speeds are not constant and service is subject to the terms and
conditions of applicable tariffs and published customer service
agreements. A "Working Living Unit" is a customer (residential
or business) that has at least one working Qwest landline. A
"Working Qualified Living Unit" is a Working Living Unit that
is located within the operational distance, for Qwest, of a DSLAM and has
a working Qwest landline capable (i.e. free of load coils, other
inhibitors and disturbers) of providing High Speed Internet Access to the
customer." <br><br>
<b>Estimated cost $81,300,000</b> <br><br>
2) <u>Redundant and Diverse Routes Project</u>. "Except as
specifically provided or excepted below, Qwest shall upgrade all of
Qwest’s wire centers throughout its New Mexico territory so that each
wire center is connected to Qwest’s network by both redundant and diverse
routes, using fiber cable or other standard technologies appropriate for
the geography and existing network components." <br><br>
<b>Estimated cost $23,100,000</b>, plus additional estimated costs for
the wire centers as specified below. (The following wire centers only
shall be excluded from those wire centers to be served by diverse and
redundant routes using fiber cable or other standard technologies
appropriate for the geography and existing network components due to high
cost/low density or low growth and/or the extraordinary cost of essential
rights of way: Alamogordo West; Red River; Taos North; Bayard Main;
Hatch; Farmington West; Pena Blanca and Penasco.)<br><br>
3) <u>Cable Improvement Project</u>. Qwest will identify and replace
defective, deteriorating or aging lead, air core and other cables and
associated network elements identified in Qwest’s New Mexico network with
modern copper or fiber and associated utilities (“Cable Improvement
Project”).<br><br>
<b>Qwest must spend at least $30,000,000 on this Priority
Project.<br><br>
</b>4) <u>Advanced Telecommunications Technologies Projects</u>. Qwest
will deploy facilities associated with providing access to advanced
telecommunications technology services for customers throughout Qwest’s
New Mexico territory who do not currently have such access, and Qwest
will expend no less than $50 Million over the Settlement Period from the
Settlement Amount in achieving this objective. <br><br>
<b>Qwest must spend at least $50,000,000 on this Priority
Project.<br><br>
</b>5) <u>Network Improvement and Capacity Augmentation Projects</u>.
With the remaining settlement dollars, Qwest shall create a forty-two
month network improvement and capacity augmentation plan by designing,
describing and prioritizing a number of specific projects... Examples of
such projects include, without limitation, the following: central office
upgrades; new network facility locations; upgrades of high bandwidth
network connections; and analog to digital upgrades. <br><br>
There is no minimum amount that Qwest must spend for this fifth area, and
additional moneys spent in other areas will be taken from this area. This
area could have as much as $<b>86 million</b> if no additional money is
spent in other areas.<br><br>
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