Copyright 2000 The Denver Post Corporation
The
Denver Post
June 5, 2000 Monday 2D EDITION
SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. E-01
LENGTH: 876 words
HEADLINE: A
Baby Bell's quest begins U S West seeks OK to expand
BYLINE: By Andrew Backover, Denver Post Business
Writer,
BODY:
On Tuesday, US West will begin a
journey to gain approval to sell long-distance services in Colorado.
A similar process is unfolding throughout the Baby Bell's territory.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission will host the
first of a series of workshops to see whether US West has opened
its local phone market to competitors, a federal standard the
Baby Bell has to meet before it can offer long-distance service akin
to AT&T, Sprint and WorldCom.
'If you can't be the one to
get to the Holy Grail of offering one-stop shopping for all the
customers' needs, you are going to lose. That's what this is all
about,' said Bruce Smith, director of the Colorado PUC. 'The end
result to consumers, in theory at least, is competition offers a
wider range of services at better prices.' Today, Denver-based US
West can offer long-distance service only within Colorado's two
calling areas. It can connect long-distance calls within the 303, 720
and 970 area codes, as well as long-distance calls within the 719
area code. But it cannot connect calls between the two calling areas
or out of state.
Winning long-distance approval is crucial for US
West, because its competitors are aiming to provide local
phone, long-distance and Internet access and in some cases
video programming to customers in bundles. Without long-distance
access, US West is missing a big part of the bundle.
The
approval process also impacts Qwest Communications International, US
West's Denver-based merger partner. Qwest, as a condition of gaining
federal merger approval, has to sell its $ 300 million long-distance
business within US West's region. Qwest will receive $ 200 million
for the in-region business in a deal it signed in March with
Montana-based Touch America.
After the merger is completed, perhaps this
summer, Qwest-US West won't be able to sell long distance until US
West gains approval from individual states as well as the FCC.
To date, only one Bell company, New York-based Bell
Atlantic, has gained approval to sell long-distance service within
its territory. In December, Bell Atlantic received FCC permission
to sell long-distance in New York.
US West says it has spent
$ 1.5 billion since 1996 to open its 14 states to competition. As of
October, more than 200,000 lines in Colorado were being served by
competitors, according to US West estimates. US West serves more than
2.7 million lines in the state.
'In the annals of American business,
never before has one business been told to spend money simply to have
competitors take its customers,' US West spokesman Steve Hammack
said. 'It's completely brand new.'
US West, its competitors
and state regulators opted for a collaborative workshop approach to
avoid the traditional adversarial setup comprising testimony,
cross-examinations and seemingly endless hearings. The number of
players involved - including consumer advocates, the PUC staff and
numerous competitors - could have extended the adversarial process
for years.
By the end of June, US West hopes to have workshops
scheduled in 10 of its 14 states. Nebraska, the farthest along in
the application process, is not using the workshop approach,
Hammack said. US West decided to file a traditional
long-distance application in Nebraska, which was among its first
three applications filed in the region, Hammack said.
During
the workshops, US West will have to prove it has satisfied the
14-point checklist laid out by the Telecommunications Act of
1996. Some points are simple, such as whether US West has
given competitors access to its telephone directory listings, utility
poles, ducts, and conduits that hold wire and cables.
More
complicated is the testing of what is known as US West's operations
support system, the 'back office' and computer systems that will
coordinate billing and other important information handoffs between
competitors and US West.
The system will be tested regionwide by a
regional oversight committee, which is actively looking for a
third-party tester. The system test should be completed in late 2000
or early 2001. The test-by-committee approach also should lessen US
West's wait, since the one-time test can be used by all 14 states.
The first workshops will be held Tuesday through Thursday
at The Denver Post building, 1560 Broadway, room 1075, from 8:30
a.m. to 5 p.m. At least four other sets of workshops are
scheduled throughout the summer and fall.
Colorado's Office
of Consumer Counsel, which advocates for customers of regulated
utilities such as US West, will be watching the workshop process
closely to make sure consumers are not overlooked.
'What are
the reasonable customer expectations when the customers call to get
their phone service changed?' asked Ken Reif, director of the
consumer office. 'It ought to be a seamless transfer from provider to
provider. We're not going to be interested in the technical aspects
of how it works. What we are concerned about is: How long does it
take? What happens to your bill? How do you get complaints resolved?'
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