[1st-mile-nm] [nmisp] Hearing Monday the 28th on Qwest Cybercebter

[Baca, Leo]

Just to clarify....the total investmest for the proposed  Cyber Center  is $40 to $50 million.   Qwest is requesting that only $10 million count towards its infrastructure investment commitment of $255 million to the state which is part of its total SASA agreement of $270 million.  

Leo Baca  

-----Original Message-----
From: "Marianne Granoff" <granoff at zianet.com>
To: "nmisp at nmisp.net" <nmisp at nmisp.net>; "nmipa at nmipa.org" <nmipa at nmipa.org>; "1st-mile-nm at crank.dcn.davis.ca.us" <1st-mile-nm at crank.dcn.davis.ca.us>; "aww-discuss at egroups.com" <aww-discuss at egroups.com>; "MISP-L at LIST.UNM.EDU" <MISP-L at LIST.UNM.EDU>
Cc: "cecilia.rios at state.nm.us" <cecilia.rios at state.nm.us>
Sent: 7/23/2008 7:58 PM
Subject: [nmisp] Hearing Monday the 28th on Qwest Cybercebter

There is a NM Public Regulation Commission (PRC) hearing on Monday, 
July 28, 2008 at 9:30 am in the PERA Building 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 by Friday at 4:00 pm that they will be using 
the bridge so she can plan for it appropriately.

You must call Cecilia at 505 827-4501 or send her email at 
cecilia.rios at state.nm.us with your name, address, and phone number if 
you want to call in and make some public comments on this issue.

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.

I.E.
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

or

2) no - Qwest should spend the money on their network, especially in 
rural areas, not on another Cybercenter in Albuquerque.
Please do not bring up any other issue during this particular meeting 
unless it is relevant to this discussion.

The telephone number for the bridge is 1-866-295-5950. The PIN is 
5754422 and then a # on your phone keypad.

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.

Marianne Granoff
Chair, Public Affairs Committee
New Mexico Internet Professionals Association
505 980-7919

The Second Amended Settlement Agreement is here:
http://www.nmprc.state.nm.us/utility/telecommunications/pdf/qwestafor/amendedsettlementagreementclean1215063.pdf 


The SASA had five project areas for investment. Below is a very 
simple review of those five areas:

1) High Speed Internet Access Project - 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."

Estimated cost $81,300,000

2) Redundant and Diverse Routes Project. "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."

Estimated cost $23,100,000, 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.)

3) Cable Improvement Project. 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").

Qwest must spend at least $30,000,000 on this Priority Project.

4) Advanced Telecommunications Technologies Projects. 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.

Qwest must spend at least $50,000,000 on this Priority Project.

5) Network Improvement and Capacity Augmentation Projects. 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.

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 $86 million if no additional 
money is spent in other areas.



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