Qwest Communications International Inc. believes it is a step closer to offering interstate long-distance service in Utah.
A nearly three-hour Utah Public Service Commission technical conference Monday yielded no new issues for the Denver-based company as it awaits the PSC's recommendation to the Federal Communications Commission to offer the service. Robin Riggs, Qwest's vice president for Utah, said the filing with the FCC will happen "as quickly as possible" once the recommendation is made.
"We're pretty confident that we've given all we can, and we'll just rely on the commission now to make the informed decision and move forward," Riggs said after the conference. "There's nothing that came out of today's meeting that would lead us to believe that we'll be filing other than when we'd planned to."
Riggs would not confirm speculation that the filing might occur July 10 other than to say "it's close."
Qwest was forced to give up its long-distance business in 2000 in the 14-state territory of US WEST, the Baby Bell in the West, after the two companies merged. Since then, it has followed a re-entry process spelled out in the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, a law that requires, in part, that long-distance approval be granted only after Baby Bells open their local-service markets to competition.
Utah is expected to be in Qwest's second "wave" of FCC filings. The company on June 13 filed applications in five of the 14 states where it offers local service. The FCC has 90 days from the filing date to rule on applications. Qwest is seen as being slow among Baby Bells trying to re-enter the long-distance market but is the first to file applications for five states at once.
Monday's technical conference featured a few comments from an AT&T attorney questioning parts of Qwest's quality assurance plan, a document that spells out penalties if Qwest backslides in local service once it receives long-distance approval.
The PSC also sought clarification on some parts of the plan and wondered about the state Division of Public Utilities' stance on interconnection agreements Qwest has made with other telecom companies without the PSC's approval. Utah and a few other states have sought information from Qwest about the agreements because of questions about whether they were made as a way of gaining competitors' silence on the issue of Qwest's long-distance re-entry.
Todd Lundy, representing Qwest, told the commission that six states have determined that that issue does not relate to the re-entry process. The Division of Public Utilities has yet to file its report on the matter, and Ingo Henningsen, the division's telecommunications manager, and Lundy both said the issue could be reviewed separately from the long-distance matter.
Also on Monday, Qwest gained an endorsement from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission to re-enter the long-distance market in that state and said it will file an FCC application for that and three other states later this month.
The pending FCC applications are for Idaho, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska and North Dakota. Qwest already offers long distance to customers in 35 states outside of its local-service region.
E-MAIL: bwallace@desnews.com