Adelstein has worked closely with rural telecommunications providers during his six years as Senator Daschle's telecommunications policy aide and his candidacy was strongly championed by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. NTCA repeatedly argued for confirmation of Adelstein who had demonstrated his understanding of rural communications policy issues.

The settlement calls on Qwest to issue refunds or credits to eligible consumers who were harmed and filed complaints with the Attorney General's Office. There is no cap on the amount of restitution the company will pay, but state officials estimate it could be as much as $250,000 total. Of the $1.3 million Qwest will pay the State, $500,000 will go toward consumer education.

Additionally, Qwest was fined $20.3 million by California for cramming and slamming in October 2002, $1 million by the State of Colorado to settle cramming complaints and $3.25 million last July by the State of Florida for slamming complaints.

A Montana state senator has prefiled a bill that would call on the Department of Administration to contract with a third party to set up a "no-call" registry for consumers who don't want to receive unsolicited telemarketing phone calls. Under the measure consumers would initially pay $10 to place their names on the list. The number would remain on the list for one year, and the department would set the renewal fee.

Telemarketers that call names on the list could face up to $2,000 in fines.

The legislation would also require local exchange carriers to place information about the registry in their white pages directory.

Customers are able to personalize SBC Total connections by adding various calling plans and features. SBC said that the bundled offering could save customers anywhere from $276 to $575 annually. The offering is available in all of SBC's territory except Connecticut.

FCC ASKS FEDERAL-STATE JOINT BOARD TO REEXAMINE USF RULES

The Association believes that the current rules, which allow a competitor to receive universal support monies based upon the incumbent's cost and that making duplicative payments to both incumbent and competitor, are unwise and will endanger the future of the fund.

The FCC, according to NTCA, has asked the joint board to assess:

1) how high-cost support for eligible telecommunications carriers is calculated in rural study areas with competition,

2) the rules pertaining to support for second lines and any impact second line support may be having on the fund, and

3) the process for designating carriers as eligible telecommunications carriers.

In its request to the Joint Board, the FCC specifically cited NTCA's proposed definitions for the terms "captured" and "new" subscriber lines. In July NTCA petitioned the FCC to write new rules to prevent both incumbent local exchange carriers and competitors from receiving support money at the same time while serving identical customers. NTCA and many other industry observers do not believe the Universal Service Fund can be sustained with so many more recipients of the money.

Minot lawmaker Janet Wentz was unanimously selected to serve as speaker of the House and David Monson of Osnabrock was re-elected to serve as the assistant majority leader.

House Democrats will fill their leadership positions on December 1, the first day of the Legislative organizing session.

Senate Republicans re-elected Bismarck legislator Bob Stenehjem to lead the caucus this session. Mr. Stenehjem replaces Gary Nelson, who was appointed by President Bush to lead the Farm Service Agency in North Dakota.
Senator Randy Christmann, who also serves on the board of West River Telecommunications Cooperative in Hazen, was re-elected to be assistant majority leader.

Members of the Association advocated their candidacies throughout the campaign and congratulate them for their success and achievement. Their understanding of the complex telecommunications industry and appreciation for the difficulty of serving rural North Dakota will allow the Legislature to more knowledgeably deliberate telecom issues.

Meanwhile, in the House, Minority Leader Merle Boucher (D-Rolette) will face a challenge from Mary Ekstrom (D- Fargo) for the top job when legislators return in December for their organizing session. The Assistant Leader's job will also be vacant due to Rep. Pam Gulleson's announcement that she will not seek re-election to the position. The only announced candidate so far is Rep. Eliot Glassheim (D- Grand Forks) for Rep. Gulleson's position.

The performance assurance plan changes include dropping caps the company had placed on payments it would make to its competitors for failing to meet performance measures. The Commission also directed Qwest to add a provision that would prohibit it from recovering payments to competitors by increasing rates to them.

The South Dakota Commission's action is necessary because under Federal law the Federal Communications Commission must consult with the relevant state commissions and U.S. Department of Justice before it can authorize a Bell company to enter the interLATA market.

In North Dakota, the Public Service Commission has already approved Qwest's application and it is pending before the FCC. A decision is due prior to December 27, 2002.

Effective December 1, more than a dozen MCI domestic calling plan rates will increase. For example, rates for MCI Weekends/All Week, MCI Everyday Plus, MCI Everyday Savings, and MCI Everyday Classic plans will increase from 5 to 9 cents per minute.

Rates for MCI Select 200-Advantage Option and MCI Anytime Advantage-Savings Option will increase by $2.

In addition, rates for Basic International Direct Dial Calling Service will increase by about 13 percent.

Kate Dean, a TRAC spokeswoman, said, "It is apparent from the 25-80% rate increases announced today by MCI for virtually every aspect of its domestic and international consumer operations that the other shoe has dropped; MCI customers are now being asked to foot the bill for the accounting fraud and other legal woes of WorldCom."

TRAC is a nonprofit, membership-based organization that researches telecommunications issues and publishes rate comparisons to help consumers in choosing carriers.

Foremost, the Task Force recommends that FCC rules allow spectrum users the flexibility to operate at higher power in less congested areas when that signal would not cause interference to other users. The same principals should be applied to unlicensed bands so that higher power operation of unlicensed devises is permitted in less congested areas, according to the report.

The Task Force also recommended that the FCC establish a flexible secondary market to encourage leasing of spectrum usage rights in rural areas, and that it consider rural issues when defining geographic licensing areas. Authors of the report said that creation of secondary markets and licensing areas that distinguish between rural and urban areas may improve the ability of rural carriers to acquire spectrum in the areas they serve.

In addition, six industry directors, three from cooperatives and three from commercial companies were re-elected to the board: Cooperative members John McAllister of West Carolina Rural Telephone Cooperative, Larry Sevier of Rural Telephone Service Co. and David Crothers of the North Dakota Association of Telephone Cooperatives. Commercial company members also sworn in included John Dillard of Monroe Telephone Co., Mick Jensen of Great Plains Communications and Curt Sampson from Hector Communications Corporation.

The full board continues to explore privatization options and is due to receive a detailed privatization report from SAIC, a contractor who has been exploring the feasibility of moving control of the $2.1 billion financial institution from government to private control.

Johnathan Claffey, deputy administrator of the Rural Utilities Service, will make a presentation on Rural Telephone Bank privatization and other RUS issues during his appearance in Bismarck December 3 during the Association's 49th Annual Meeting.

The Federal Communications Commission is seeking comments on AT&T's proposal to exempt access charges from phone-to-phone calls when they are transmitted over the Internet. AT&T had asked the FCC in October to allow it to pay access charges on these calls.

In its petition, AT&T said that its calls are transmitted over "common" Internet backbone facilities that carry Internet service provider (ISP) and other types of public Internet traffic.

State Representative John Warner (D-Ryder) said in Bismarck last week that he will introduce a bill in the 2003 Legislature to create a statewide do-not-call list for telephone customers. Customers who don't want telemarketers calling them can put their numbers on a list and solicitors cannot call those numbers.

A similar law takes effect in Minnesota on the first of the year. Almost 30 percent of Minnesota residential telephone numbers were registered on the State's do-not-call list after the first five days of registration.

Rep. Warner's bill will require the Public Service Commission to set up a list of residential telephone consumers who do not want to get unsolicited calls encouraging purchases, rentals or investments. It would affect calls made by live operators or automatic dialing and announcing devices.

The Minnesota law allows for exemptions for nonprofit organizations, government agencies and businesses that have been given prior permission to make calls to the individual.

Rep. Warner said that he is also considering introducing "anti-spam" legislation that prohibits Internet service providers from selling personal information about their subscribers. "I think there is genuine concern, Rep. Warner said, among some North Dakotans that some types of commercial speech are damaging their quality of life and challenging their ability to determine what is appropriate within their own homes."

A bill requiring drivers to use hands-free cell phones is expected to be introduced in California next month.

Western Wireless had submitted the statement, but ignored questions the South Dakota PSC staff had submitted to the wireless company. Under the USF rules, if a state commission does not certify and Eligible Telecommunications Carrier by October 1 each year, that ETC will not receive universal service support for the first quarter of the following year. However, the ETC may reapply for certification for the second quarter.

The PSC said that Federal law prohibits State regulation of wireless rates but allows States to regulate service quality, terms and conditions of service. Utah regulators don't have the jurisdiction today because wireless carriers are excluded from the definition of "telephone corporation" under State law.

Jason Wolfe, CEO of the company, said his firm plans to
initially hire 10 people in North Dakota. Wage levels will be similar to those paid in Pittsburgh and range from $25,000 to $45,000 for salaried employees and $10-$12 for hourly employees. Mr. Wolfe said the company hopes to have 33 people working out of the Beulah facility by the end of 2003 and 100 people employed by the end of 2004 as the company expands into product merchandising.

Governor John Hoeven, in a press announcement, said the company is a good fit in the State's effort to diversify its economy. "Technology is one of the five industries we are targeting to create high-quality jobs in North Dakota. Our world-class telecommunications infrastructure across North Dakota is creating more opportunity for businesses like Direct Response Technologies to expand into the State. With the work of the legislature, the Department of Commerce and local developers, we are moving forward creating opportunity and quality jobs."

The Attorney General of Oklahoma is reminding consumers the December 1 deadline to sign up for the State's "No- Call" list. More than 356,000 residents have already placed their phone numbers on the Telemarketer Restriction Act Consumer Registry.

The law requires the Attorney General's office to set up a "no-call" list for consumers who don't want to receive unsolicited telemarketing calls.

Under the Act, telemarketers are prohibited from calling phone numbers on the list. Consumers are not charged to register for the list, which must be updated quarterly. Any company found guilty of a first offense could be subject to a $500 fine and/or up to a year in county jail. Any subsequent offense would be considered a felony, subject to a $5,000 fine and/or up to 10 years in prison.