VANCOUVER, Wash., Jan. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Electric Lightwave Inc.
(Nasdaq: ELIX), one of the nation's leading integrated communications
providers, was handed a victory yesterday when the Utah Public Service
Commission, ruling from the bench, ordered US West (NYSE: USW) to honor its
interconnection agreement that requires US West to pay termination charges for
calls to local Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Coincidentally, the ruling is roughly one year since the Commission
approved the interconnection agreement, requiring US West to honor reciprocal
compensation. US West will be required to pay Electric Lightwave all past
charges, plus 12 percent annual interest that have accrued since January 1998.
Next week, the Commission will focus on the issue of assessing penalties of US
West. The collection of any penalties would be contributed to the Utah
Universal Public Telecommunications Services Support Fund.
"This was an open and shut case of the dominant phone company refusing to
abide by its own contractual agreements and previous commission rulings," said
Susan McAdams, vice president of External Affairs for Electric Lightwave.
"We're not surprised to see the Utah commission come to the same conclusion
and rule the same way as 24 other state commissions."
Prior to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, monopoly phone companies
lobbied for reciprocal compensation, an agreement that required all carriers
to compensate one another for the exchange of local telephone traffic. The
monopolies' reasoning was that they would receive the bulk of these
compensation payments because new competitors would have relatively few
customers. Competitive providers preferred a "bill and keep" method in which
no money would change hands. In the end, the monopolies prevailed and
reciprocal compensation became law.
"The incumbent phone giants got what they asked for," said McAdams. "Now
they want to renege on their contractual agreements and this ruling proves our
point once again.
"Integrated communications providers such as Electric Lightwave naturally
attract ISPs, who take advantage of competitors' advanced fiber optic
networks, broadband capacity and customer-focused orientation," said McAdams.
"The reciprocal compensation fee structure is designed to compensate the
providers for the costs associated with terminating calls. Competitive
providers pay these reciprocal fees as well. These interconnection agreements
serve the marketplace and ultimately benefit the consumer."
Electric Lightwave has pending complaints against US West in Oregon and
Arizona where the State Commissions have already ruled that calls to ISPs are
local services and are subject to reciprocal compensation.
In every case that has been brought to the State Commissions, officials
have ordered the Bell Operating Companies to honor their contracts and pay the
fees.
About Electric Lightwave
Electric Lightwave, Inc. is an integrated communications provider offers
data, Internet access solutions and prepaid services to businesses nationwide.
In the western United States, the company is a full-service provider offering
local and long distance telephone service, videoconferencing and broadband
transport services to business customers in Seattle, Spokane, Boise, Portland,
Sacramento, Salt Lake City and Phoenix. Headquartered in Vancouver,
Washington, the company is on the World Wide Web at http://www.eli.net.
SOURCE Electric Lightwave, Inc.
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.eli.net
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/117258.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 117258
CONTACT:
media, Jack Hardy, 360-816-3602, or
jack_hardy@eli.net, or investors, Fletcher Chamberlin,
360-816-3996, or fletcher_chamberlin@eli.net, both of Electric
Lightwave, Inc.
|
