[1st-mile-nm] PRC, Qwest and ISPs

[Carroll Cagle]

PRC likely to review Qwest's treatment of ISPs


New Mexico Business Weekly - by Kevin Robinson-Avila
<http://www.bizjournals.com/search/results.html?Ntt=%22Kevin%20Robinson-Avil
a%22&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial>  NMBW Staff


 

 

 Friday, January 16, 2009

 

 

 

Jane Hill, president of Cyber
<http://albuquerque.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/related_content.html?topic=C
yber%20Mesa%20Telecom>  Mesa Telecom, said that every month her staff gets a
bill from
<http://albuquerque.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/gen/Qwest_Communications_Int
ernational_342CE7822A42443C8030C2DBC9D77CD5.html> Qwest Communications
International that is thousands of pages long.

"I have one full-time person who pretty much spends her time just dealing
with Qwest bills," Hill said. "She has to review it carefully for errors,
and when she finds problems, it often takes months to get them straightened
out."

Like many small phone and Internet companies, Santa Fe's Cyber Mesa buys
wholesale access to Qwest's telecommunications infrastructure to sell retail
services, such as DSL. But Cyber Mesa and others say the Baby Bell has used
its monopoly control over fiber and wireline systems to make business costly
and difficult.

Common problems cited by the companies in a New Mexico Attorney General's
report include lengthy phone bills (often with extensive errors and no easy
way to address them), as well as extensive delays and problems when
competitors ask Qwest to provide wholesale services.

In addition, Hill and executives from other companies said Qwest regularly
"slams" customers by unilaterally cutting off Internet service to their
patrons without reason. Then, before hooking them back up, these executives
add, Qwest tries to convince customers to switch to Qwest.

The state attorney general documented these complaints by Cyber Mesa and
five other companies in a report it filed with the New Mexico Public
Regulation Commission last May.

The AG is now pressing the PRC to hold hearings on the issues raised, said
Assistant Attorney General Brian Harris.

"The report aimed to supply probable cause to encourage the PRC to open an
investigation," Harris said. "That still needs to happen."

Qwest spokesman Mark Molzen, however, said the AG report lacks specific case
examples and is largely based on "anonymous hearsay."

"The commission has never made a finding that Qwest has violated any law,
contract, tariff or rule in connection with any of our ISP [Internet service
provider] customers," Molzen said.

Nevertheless, PRC Chairman Sandy Jones said the commission will look at the
issues very soon.

"I hope to get it on the agenda as a general discussion item in the next
couple of weeks," Jones said. "We must decide if we need a hearing to
examine this further, or if it should just go straight into an investigation
by commission staff."

PRC Vice Chairman David King said he wants the attorney general to provide
more information.

"The report contains general charges that are not very specific," King said.
"If we get enough specifics, that might open it up to a more general hearing
about the issues."

For their part, Hill and executives from two other companies - CNSP Internet
in Santa Fe and Southwest
<http://albuquerque.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/related_content.html?topic=S
outhwest%20Communications%20Systems>  Communications Systems in Gallup -
said specific case documentation would be easy to compile.

All three companies complain of Qwest's "slamming" [FCC definition: When
your preferred telephone company is switched without your permission.] of
customers, and they all described extensive billing problems in detail.

"The slamming just goes on and on," Hill said. "Last week, we had two people
slammed in one day, and another one over the weekend. Qwest uses any excuse
when talking with customers to pull them off Cyber Mesa and put them on to
Qwest service."

Wendy Heinz, CFO and co-owner of Southwest Communications, said slamming is
hurting her company.

"It's the biggest problem we face," Heinz said. "We constantly lose DSL
customers because of it."

Heinz also said Qwest frequently bills her company for services not
provided, and it has locked her firm into long-term contracts that prevent
her from getting price reductions and discounts that Qwest retail customers
receive.

CNSP Vice President Albert Catanach said his company has faced chronic
billing problems with Qwest.

For example, CNSP requested a DS-3 circuit from Qwest in 2003 to offer
faster DSL service to its business customers. The upgrade was not performed
until 2005, and then, Catanach says, Qwest ended up offering a much more
expensive OC-3 line that CNSP refused to pay for.

"We've never had or used the OC-3, but Qwest has been billing us for it
right up to today," Catanach said.

In addition, CNSP says Qwest double-bills it for T-1 cables every time CNSP
switches a current T-1 line to a new customer.

Qwest now says CNSP has $460,000 in outstanding bills, pushing CNSP to seek
PRC intervention, Catanach said.

Harris said the attorney general wants these issues examined collectively by
the PRC as part of a broad hearing to better regulate Qwest's treatment of
ISPs.

"I don't believe these problems can be resolved on a case-by-case basis,"
Harris said. "The PRC needs to create the appropriate conditions for
competition to thrive."

 

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