The New Mexico State Senate has approved a measure that directs an interim legislative committee to introduce legislation that addresses rate disparities for "intrastate and interstate switched access and long distance services" provided by carriers in the State.

The legislation notes there is a "significant disparity" between rates charged by telecom carriers in the State for intrastate switched access services and interstate switched access services.

The measure, according to Telecommunications Report, comes after the legislature tabled a bill that would have addressed access charge reform head on. The bill would have reformed the State's access charge structure by mandating that intrastate switched access charges be reduced to "levels comparable" to interstate switched access rates. The bill would have allowed carriers that reduce their switched access charges to increase rates for basic services to ensure revenue neutrality.

Qwest Communications announced last month it will be deploying a digital subscriber line (DSL) service that will enable customers to purchase the company's DSL service regardless of whether they receive voice service from Qwest. The company said it is the first "major telecommunications company" to make this service available to customers.

Qwest said that stand-alone DSL also complements the company's plan to extend its voice over the Internet (VoIP) offering. By year- end, Qwest plans to offer consumer VoIP services in its 14-State incumbent territory.

The company said stand-alone DSL will be available in North Dakota, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

The Public Utilities Commission in Minnesota affirmed their December decision denying Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (ETC) status to Nextel Partners. A ETC designation is necessary before receiving universal service funding.

The Minnesota Commission found that Nextel failed to support its assertion that it would fulfill the service obligations required for ETC status and be able to provide service throughout its service territory.

The PUC also said that Nextel failed to meet the FCC's advertising requirements because it didn't submit an advertising plan demonstrating its intent and ability to advertise the required nine supported services throughout the proposed service area. Because Nextel couldn't serve the entire service area, it planned to advertise its conventional services. The PUC concluded Nextel's proposal was inadequate.

In its reconsideration request, Nextel said the PUC misapplied the advertising requirements and erroneously required detailed expansion plans. According to the wireless company, these requirements were inconsistent with previous decisions.

The Kansas Corporation Commission has scheduled a July prehearing conference to review Western Wireless' designation as an eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC). The Commission's staff had asked for an investigation to determine whether Western Wireless obtained Federal universal service support for customers in telephone exchanges not included within its ETC designation.

The issue arose in July 2003, when staff asked the Corporation Commission to revoke Western Wireless's ETC designation for what staff asserted to be "egregious" violations of previous commission orders, including incorrect collections from the Universal Service Fund. In its response, Western Wireless argued it might have mistakenly received Federal universal support for certain customers, but that the mistake has been corrected.

CTIA HEAD SAYS COMPETITION, NOT REGULATION, WILL IMPROVE WIRELESS

Largent told members of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) that "consumers who have choices are the best regulators" and that additional rules would have the effect of raising prices and cramping an innovative industry, according to TR's State NewsWire.

Largent told the State regulatory commissioners that the number of wireless customers has grown nearly 10-fold since 1993 and that 97 percent of consumers have a choice of three or more mobile carriers. That is proof, the former Congressman from Oklahoma said, that cellular service is not a monopoly that needs to be regulated.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) earlier this month launched an inquiry to assess the impact of high foreign mobile termination fees on American consumers. Wireless carriers would prefer to see the controversy resolved by overseas regulators and the market place, according to RCR Wireless News.

AT&T and MCI Worldcom want the FCC to expand regulations governing settlement of United States-international wireline calls to include wireless traffic. Global telecom carriers Vodafone Group and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association have urged the FCC not to meddle in the mobile termination fee fracas.

The FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau announced this month that the proposed universal service contribution factor for the FOR 2Q Second Quarter of 2004 is 8.7 percent. The Bureau's recommendation becomes effective if Commissioners at the agency do not act to change it.

The data collected by NTCA indicated that replacing today's access charge system with Central Office Bill and Keep (COBAK) would strip over $2 billion in annual access charges for rural incumbent local exchange carriers that serve fewer than 100,000 access charges. On average, it would require telcos to make up $22 per month in revenue per customer, but in 10 percent of the study areas the impact would be approximately $55 per month.

A NTCA press release said that access charges are the principal source of cost recovery for rural telephone companies since the break-up of AT&T. The NTCA study showed that, on average, 27 percent of the rural incumbent's total company revenues come from State and interstate access charges.

Under the proposed COBAK regime, carriers would no longer be permitted to collect access charges from other carriers using their networks, but would instead have to recover the costs of the local loop and local switching from their own customers.

Over 370 rural telephone companies participated in NTCA's survey.

"The joint efforts of Cellular One and the public safety forces in North Dakota in providing E-911 services assures our citizens greater safety and an added sense of security," said North Dakota Governor John Hoeven. "Digital wireless services are important to our economic development, public safety and quality of life initiatives in our State."

Verizon Wireless announced it has completed its "1XRTT NationalAccess" high-speed wireless data network across North Dakota. As of mid-March, customers in Devils Lake, Dickinson, Jamestown, Minot and Williston can now access the new network, according to a company press release. Customers in Fargo, Grand Forks, the Red River Valley and the Bismarck area have been able to access the network since last year.

The company said it invested $21 million in its North Dakota network last year and built 11 new cell sites. It expects to build 17 new cell sites throughout the State this year.

"We have brought the latest wireless technology to North Dakota," said Viki Radden, president of Verizon Wireless's Great Plains region. "Our customers can now enjoy picture messaging and remote access to their E-mail and the Internet wherever we have service in the State."

The press release said that NationalAccess customers can expect speeds similar to or better than the speeds experienced by home PC users dialing into their Internet Service Provider (ISP). Average data transmission speeds of NationalAccess network are between 40 and 60 kilobits per second (Kbps), with bursts up to 144 Kbps.

Commissioner Abernathy said, "In a decision involving an application by Virginia Cellular, the Commission made clear that any carrier that wants to be an ETC must offer quality services at affordable rates throughout the designated service area. The ETC also must be ready, willing, and able to serve as a carrier of last resort and otherwise be prepared to fulfill the goals set forth in Section 254 of the Act."

To view Commissioner Abernathy's speech, please see: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC- 244915A1.doc.

Western Wireless, according to RCR Wireless News, has introduced its Unlimited Home Calling Plan for Cellular One customers in the midwest that provides unlimited voice service minutes when calls are made within the Cellular One Midwest network coverage area for $50 per month. The plan does not include roaming or long-distance calls and is available to customers in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

West River Telecommunications Cooperative, based in Hazen, North Dakota, has announced that effective April 1, 2004 their entire service territory will be one local calling area for calls placed and terminated within one of the telco's 25 exchanges.

General Manager Mick Grosz said, "Increasingly, WRT customers have indicated a desire that they be able to call other people, schools, hospitals, businesses and others within the WRT service area without it being a long distance call. The Board of Directors has considered many options on how to meet these needs. In the end it was felt that all subscribers had equal membership in this cooperative, paid an equal rate and in fairness deserved to be able to call an equal number of people."

Residential and business customers will see their local rates increase $4.50 to implement the expanded calling area program.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled last month that pulver.com's Free World Dialup offering should remain exempt from paying access charges and be not regulated as a "telecommunications" service by the agency. Pulver's offering allows users of broadband Internet access services to make Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or other types of peer-to-peer communications directly to other subscribers of the Pulver service, without charge. Pulver's services do not travel over the local telephone company's switched network.

In 2003, Pulver filed a petition for declaratory ruling requesting that the FCC rule Pulver's service to be neither a "telecommunications service" not "telecommunications," and therefore not subject to traditional telephone regulation by the Federal Communications Commission. The agency, in their decision, complied and said that Free World Dialup is an unregulated "information service" that is subject to Federal jurisdiction.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created the National Do Not Call Registry to curb unsolicited commercial telephone calls. The list contains the personal numbers of telephone subscribers who voluntarily indicate that they do not wish to receive unsolicited calls from commercial telemarketers. Commercial telemarketers are prohibited from calling telephone numbers contained in the Registry. However, the Registry's restrictions apply only to telemarketing calls made by or on behalf of sellers of goods or services, and not to charitable or political fundraising calls. Additionally, a seller may call consumers who have signed up for the national registry if it has an established business relationship with the consumer or if the consumer has given that seller written permission to call.

According to NTCA's Washington Report, the board recommended specific eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) guidelines that the FCC and State commissions should consider when determining whether an ETC designation request is in the public interest. The board also recommended limiting support to one primary line per customer as a means of controlling the size of the Fund.

The Joint Board's recommendations will be reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission before the agency makes a decision on the board's suggestions.

The board further recommended that it and the FCC consider possible modifications to the basis of support for all ETC's in a single comprehensive review proceeding of the high-cost support mechanisms for rural and non-rural carriers.

The board proposed the following factors for the FCC and States to consider when determining whether an ETC designation is in the public interest:

1-The financial viability of the requesting carrier;

2-The requesting carrier's commitment and ability to provide the nine supported services throughout the targeted service area;

3-The carrier's ability to remain functional in emergencies;

4-The carrier's willingness to meet State-specific consumer protection requirements;

5- The carrier's willingness to adhere to minimum local usage requirements;

6- The additional benefits the requesting carrier would bring to the targeted service area;

7- The potential impact of the ETC designation on the Federal and State universal service funds; and

8-The potential impact on the future viability of the rural incumbent local exchange carrier.

The Federal Communications Commission will consider the Joint Board's recommendations and seek comments from interested parties. The schedule for comments has not yet been established. By statute, the FCC has 12 months to respond to the Joint Board's recommendations.

NTCA, according to the Washington Report, will file comments urging the FCC to reject the Joint Board's primary line restriction. The Association said it will ask the FCC to adopt NTCA's more stringent seven-point public interest test and its seven principles for universal service reform.

In Colorado, according to the Denver Post, a call center in Glendale will be closed and 800 people will be laid off. In Colorado Springs, another 135 Sprint employees will be losing their jobs. All are telephone sales or customer service representatives.

MCI confirmed the layoffs in Colorado, and in Phoenix and Niles, Ohio, where call centers will be closed and a total of 1,500 people let go. Workers also will be cut in Alpharetta, Georgia and Springfield, Missouri.

U.S. telemarketing workers typically earn $10 to $13 an hour, according to the Direct Marketing Association.

A consortium of 18 cities is involved in the UTOPIA project, which would have fiber installed to the edge of every residential and business property in the member cities. The legislation signed by the Governor mandates any bond issued to finance the capital costs for wholesale telecom facilities will need to be secured and paid for solely from the revenues generated by the telecom services. Alternatively, the municipality can issue general obligation bonds to fund the project, but those bonds need to be approved by the voters, according to State NewsWire.

The new law prohibits a municipality from paying the origination, financing, or other carrying costs of the bonds from the general fun or other enterprise funds of the community without the taxpayers consent.

The article cited Qwest's opposition to the UTOPIA network and has maintained taxpayers should not be forced to fund it.

The staff of the Public Utility Commission has recommended the Commission deny a request by Western Wireless to amend its current eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) designation. The wireless company had asked that the technological restriction related to the deployment of the wireless access unit (WAU) placed on its Federal Universal Service Fund (USF) support be removed. Western Wireless said it wanted to receive additional Federal support without any limits on the customer equipment uses.

The PUC staff said it had concerns that Western Wireless would not provide its customers with Lifeline and Linkup services. Additionally, according to State NewsWire, staff labeled the wireless carriers' 911 service as "insufficient" and recommended that its limitations concerning automatic number identification and automatic location information be explained to customers in a "prominent" warning.

The Office of Public Counsel and Verizon Southwest also filed separate motions opposing the wireless carriers' ETC application. Both said that the application was contrary to public interest.

Telecommunications revenues fell 3 percent between 2001 to 2002, according to a report released by the Federal Communications Commission this month. Revenues fell from $302 billion to $292 billion, said the FCC report titled, "Telecommunications Industry Revenues 2002."

Revenues for incumbent local exchange carriers fell 2 percent, from $118 billion to $115 billion.

Revenues of competitive access providers and competitive local exchange carriers increased by less than 1 percent, to $13 billion.

Wireless revenues grew from $75 billion to $82 billion, although that 9 percent growth rate was substantially below the 20 percent revenue growth from 2000 to 2001.

Industry toll revenues fell to $84 billion, down 16 percent from 2001 and 24 percent below the 2000 level.

The FCC's report may be accessed at www.fcc.gov/wcb/stats .

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Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), called for a "light regulatory touch" on voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology.

"I think the government will take a hands-off approach to it," Powell said, speaking to several thousand wireless industry attendees at the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) annual meeting, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper said, "Voice over IP is the most disruptive technology to come along in a while, Mr. Powell said. But he said the technology's full potential is best realized when it is seen as an Internet application, and not merely as a voice application." Chairman Powell said he saw VoIP as complementary to wireless technology.

President George W. Bush set a goal of "universal, affordable access for broadband technology by the year 2007." Through broadband "highways of knowledge" available to all Americans, President Bush said, the nation will be able to build new small businesses and promote educational opportunities.

The president proposed the 2007 goal recently in Albuquerque, New Mexico during a speech before a group of first time home owners. The President called for a national effort to offer all Americans broadband as soon as possible, and at the same time encourage the growth of multiple broadband providers to give consumers affordable, competitive choices.

The United States Supreme Court ruled recently that States can block municipal entry into the telecommunications network. The Court said that Section 253 of the Federal Telecommunications Act does not preempt State statutes that bar municipalities from providing telecom services.

The decision was a victory for State governments, statewide telecom associations and private providers who believe it is unwise for taxpayer funded telecom providers to compete against private telecommunications companies in a highly competitive marketplace.

The Supreme Court disagreed with the municipals' argument that in drafting the ACT Congress intended Section 253(a) to be read broadly to protect any entity, including a State, city or others, from restrictions by State or local government upon its operation.

Jim Baller, an attorney representing several municipalities said, "We are disappointed by the Supreme Court's ruling in the Missouri case. As to the future, we note that only a handful of States currently have barriers to municipal entry, and we hope that other States will take to heart the FCC's admonition that such barriers are unwise, unnecessary to achieve any legitimate State interest, and contrary to the purposes of the Telecommunications Act. Some States have already reversed or relaxed barriers enacted in the past, and we hope that this trend will continue as well."

Richard Geltman, general counsel for the American Public Power Association said the decision was "a setback for the development of competitive marketplace in telecommunications."

At the premier conference of wireless providers in Atlanta last week, wireless carriers said their industry needs to step-up their efforts against State and local governments that seek to regulate carriers and levy "discriminatory" taxes on their subscribers. Some, according to State NewsWire, advocate lobbying Congress to give the FCC authority to preempt State regulation of wireless carriers if Congress rewrites the 1996 Federal Telecommunications Act.

Wireless carriers also were urged to get ready for a May 24th deadline for local number portability (LNP) and complained about requests by rural local exchange carriers to alter their porting obligations.

John Stanton, chairman of T-Mobile USA, said that hundreds of rural LECs have filed petitions with State Commissions seeking more time to comply with the deadline or an exemption from the rules. "Notwithstanding FCC rules, as a practical matter, the vast majority of wireline carriers are doing everything they can to drag their feet on internodal porting."

The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) filed a petition this week with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging the Commission to prohibit long distance and wireless carriers from imposing on consumers' phone bills "misleading" surcharges that aren't required by Federal or State law, but are "entirely at the discretion of the carrier."

The petition filed with the FCC asks that any "company-imposed" surcharge should be included in the company's advertised per- minute rate or monthly fee so consumers can compare phone services in an apple-to-apple fashion, according to industry publications.

NASUCA said that "In the last few years, wireline and wireless carriers have concocted line item charges, fees, and surcharges, purporting to recover all manner of ‘regulatory,' ‘administrative,' or ‘government-mandated' costs, but which do nothing more than soak consumers for the carriers' ordinary operating costs," The group specifically cited AT&T's "Regulatory Assessment Fee," Sprint and WorldCom's "Carrier Cost Recovery Charge," and BellSouth's "Carrier Cost Recovery Fee" as examples of monthly surcharges that mislead consumers into thinking the fees are government mandated when in reality they aren't.

April 6:
NDATC Board Meeting
Statewide Boardroom
Mandan, N.D.

April 7-8:
NDTA Annual Meeting
Ramkota Hotel
Bismarck, N.D.

April 25-27:
NTCA PRNEt Spring Seminar
Orlando, FL

May 10-13:
Tri-State Operations Conference
Holiday Inn
Fargo, N.D.

June 2:
Dakota Central
Annual Meeting
Carrington, N.D.

June 4:
West River Telecom.
Annual Meeting
Hazen, N.D.

June 10:
BEK Communications
Annual Meeting
Steele, N.D.

June 10:
Polar Communications
Annual Meeting
Park River, N.D.

June 15:
Northwest Communications
Annual Meeting
Ray, N.D.

June 17:
SRT Communications
Annual Meeting
Minot, N.D.

June 22-24:
SuperComm 2004
Chicago, IL

June 23:
Consolidated Telcom
Annual Meeting
Dickinson, N.D.

July 9:
Reservation Telephone
Annual Meeting
Parshall, N.D.

July 12-14:
NDATC Summer Conference
Ramada Plaza Suites
Fargo, N.D.

July 14:
NDATC Board Meeting
Ramada Plaza Suites
Fargo, N.D.

July 28:
Co-op Day
State Fair
Minot, N.D.