NOTICES
PENNSYLVANIA PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION
Letter-Petition of BlueStar Networks, Inc. for Waiver of Certain Tariff Requirements Pertaining to Voice-Grade Service; Doc. No.: A-310862, A-310862F0002, A-310862F0003, A-310862F0004
[30 Pa.B. 2436] Commissioners Present: John M. Quain, Chairperson; Robert K. Bloom, Vice Chairperson; Nora Mead Brownell; Aaron Wilson, Jr.; Terrance J. Fitzpatrick
Public Meeting held
March 30, 2000
Interim Order By the Commission:
Before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (Commission) for disposition is a Letter-Petition of BlueStar Networks, Inc. (BlueStar), filed on June 15, 1999, for waiver of certain tariff requirements to become certified as a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) in this Commonwealth. BlueStar's Letter-Petition was filed in conjunction with the filing of an application seeking authority to provide telecommunication services as a Reseller of Toll Services, Facilities-based Interexchange Carrier (IXC), and as a Competitive Access Provider (CAP) to residential and business customers in this Commonwealth. The Letter-Petition pertains only to the applicant's request for CLEC authority at Docket No. A-310862F0002.
BlueStar seeks waiver of the following requirements of the Commission for furnishing CLEC local telecommunications services in this Commonwealth:
(1) Lifeline Services Plan & Link-up America: Requires carriers to provide Lifeline Services by offering reduced end-user charges for low-income customers for basic local telephone services. The Link-up America program provides 50% off the regular one-time charge to connect a phone line. See Universal Services Investigation Order at Docket No. I-00940035 entered January 31, 1997.
(2) Pennsylvania Telephone Relay Service: Requires carriers to provide relay telecommunications services for persons with hearing and/or speech disabilities in this Commonwealth. This service permits telephone communications between persons with hearing and/or speech disabilities who must use a Text Telephone and individuals with normal hearing and speech as provided in the tariff filed by AT&T Communications of Pennsylvania, Inc. Carriers are required to collect a surcharge based on the number of access lines. See Pennsylvania Telecommunications Relay Service Order at Docket No. M-00900239 entered May 29, 1990.
(3) 911--Emergency Services: Requires carriers to provide a toll-free 9-1-1 number for any individual within this Commonwealth to gain rapid, direct access to emergency aid in accordance with the Public Safety Emergency Telephone Act (35 P. S. §§ 7011--7021).
(4) Caller ID & Caller ID Deluxe Blocking Services: Requires carriers to provide Caller ID Blocking Service to customers for their safety and privacy. Caller ID Blocking service on a per call basis is to be offered free of charge, and on a per line basis provided free of charge for the first instance, and subsequent request for change by the customer may be charged a fee on a nonrecurring basis. The Company must adhere to the requirements of 66 Pa.C.S. § 2906(f). See also Bell Atlantic Order at Docket No. R-00943025 entered June 16, 1994.
(5) IntraLATA Presubscription Plan: Requires carriers to provide its subscribers the ability to presubscribe to the carrier of their choice for both interLATA and intraLATA services, in accordance with Commission Order for approval of IntraLATA Presubscription Plans at Docket No. I-00940034 entered October 3, 1997.
(6) Call Blocking 900/976 and Toll Denial Services for new customers and for the usage in the first instance should be offered free of charge. The customers are to be informed of this provision at the time of their initial sign up. See 52 Pa. Code § 64.191.
In its petition, BlueStar states that it is seeking to provide only data services to the residential and business market at this time and does not intend to offer voice services. In the event BlueStar would desire to provide other services in the future as part of its competitive local exchange offering, it will file appropriate additions to its tariff to include all the requirements of the Commission for CLEC authority in relation to voice services. In particular, BlueStar will include E-911 services at that time.
Applicant will provide Internet-protocal based telecommunications services using digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, which will allow for high-speed Internet access and other high-bandwidth data transfer applications not available through current integrated services digital network (ISDN) cable modems, or T-carrier one signal (T1) technology. DSL proposes to give a customer up to 8 million bits per second one way, downstream to the customer and somewhat fewer bits per second upstream to carry multiple forms of data, digital, audio and video to be carried over twisted-pair copper wire on the local loop between a network service provider's central office and the customer site. DSL services can be supported on ordinary copper telephone lines.
At the customer site, the user will be provided by BlueStar with the following: (1) An asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) modem (a comparable unit is located at BlueStar' point of presence in the Central Office), and (2) A plain old telephone service (POTS) splitter to separate voice and data transmissions. To provide service, BlueStar plans to position the digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) co-located in the ILEC Central Office to terminate and aggregate incoming ADSL lines and redirect voice traffic to the public switch telephone network (PSTN) and data to a high-speed digital line (DS3, OC-3, or OC-12) that connects back to the BlueStar Data center.
BlueStar further states that DSL service is different than traditional Internet Service Provider (ISP) service. BlueStar states that it wishes to provide enhanced services beyond the typical structure of a local ISP and to do this it requires access to unbundled network elements (UNE) extending to the customer site. BlueStar will aggregate those elements in the DSLAM unit and siphon off the data traffic that is synchronized with the DSLAM and send any voice traffic to the PSTN. Once the BlueStar customer turns on its computer, it immediately accesses the BlueStar network by the UNE, as compared to a traditional ISP that provides dial-up services to access their internal network.
BlueStar states it cannot provide voice-grade services because it is not locating a voice switch at the central office or providing equipment to the customer to provide voice-grade telephone service through BlueStar. A BlueStar customer will need to subscribe to a separate local exchange carrier to obtain voice-grade service. BlueStar's network is completely based on Internet protocol technology (IP) and has no imbedded hardware for providing traditional voice switched services. All voice traffic is transparent to the BlueStar network and is routed to the Main Distributor Frame in the Central Office to the customer's chosen local carrier.
The Commission has pending several CLEC applications seeking to provide data-only service within this Commonwealth. Several of these applicants have requested that the Commission grant their applications without requiring them to meet certain tariff requirements pertaining to voice-grade telecommunications services. The applicants argue that because they are providing data-only service, they do not have the facilities or capability to provide the services required as a voice-grade service provider. In their opinion, it is too burdensome to meet these requirements for services that they cannot or will not be providing. The Commission has reviewed the applicants' position and concludes that BlueStar's Petition for waiver should be held in abeyance and comments should be solicited from the industry on the effect of waiving voice related requirements in CLEC applications.
Based upon the foregoing, the Commission is issuing this Interim Order holding BlueStar's Petition for waiver of certain voice related tariff requirements in abeyance. The Commission will solicit comments on the questions in Appendix A pertaining to issues surrounding the requested waiver. The Interim Order shall be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin with comments due in 20 days and reply comments due within 10 days after the comment due date. After the staff reviews the comments, the Commission will issue a Final Order.
Therefore, It Is Ordered That:
1. The Petition for Waiver of the voice related tariff requirements for CLECs, filed by BlueStar Networks, Inc, on June 15, 1999, at Docket No. A-310862F0002 is hereby held in abeyance, consistent with this order.
2. The Commission hereby solicits comments on the petition for waiver.
3. The Secretary shall duly certify this order and Appendix A and deposit them with the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin for the purpose of collecting more public information through the solicitation of comments concerning the issue of data only CLECs.
4. Within 20 days of this order's publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, an original and 10 copies of any comments concerning this order and Appendix A should be submitted to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, P. O. Box 3265, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3265. A separate copy of any comments should be served upon each Commissioner's office.
5. Reply comments shall be due 10 days after the comment due date.
6. Alternate formats of this document are available to persons with disabilities and may be obtained by contacting Sherri DelBiondo, Regulator Coordinator, Law Bureau, (717) 772-4597.
7. A copy of this Interim Order and Appendix A shall be served upon The Pennsylvania Telephone Association, the Association for Local Telecommunications Services, all jurisdictional local exchange carriers, Office of Consumer Advocate, Office of Small Business Advocate, Office of Attorney General, Office of Trial Staff, Office of Special Assistants and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
8. The Commission will issue a Final Order after review of the parties comments.
9. The contact person is Leonard R. Peyton, Bureau of Fixed Utility Services, (717) 787-3665.
JAMES J. MCNULTY,
Secretary
Appendix A BlueStar Networks, Inc. filed a Petition for Waiver of certain voice related tariff requirements for CLECs on June 15, 1999 at Docket No. A-31-862F0002. The Company's request has raised numerous issues which must be addressed before the Commission can act on the Petition. Therefore, the Commission is soliciting comments on the following issues prior to determining if the waiver should be granted.
Provide responses to questions 17 through 28 based on our previous determination in our April 2, 1999 Opinion and Order at Docket Nos. A-310621 and A-310621F0002 (Applications by Vanguard Telecom Corp. d.b.a. CellularOne to provide CLEC and CAP Services), in which we defined a Competitive Access Provider (CAP).
1. Should such applicants be exempt from contributing to universal service?
2. Would such a waiver be consistent with TA-96 mandate (Section 254f) that every telcom carrier that provides intrastate telecom service contribute to the preservation and advancement of universal service in that state?
3. Is the applicant required to contribute to the federal universal service fund? Should the PA USF be consistent with federal USF with regard to assessment?
4. With increasing amounts of telecom traffic shifting from voice to data, circuit switching to packet switching and from analog to digital, why should the applicant be excluded from supporting universal service using advanced technology and thereby increasing the funding burden on CLECs carrying voice traffic?
5. How should any USF assessment be determined?
6. What threshold level justifies an exemption?
7. Who would ensure that a CLEC is and continues to be exempt? How would this be enforced or monitored?
8. Will a new applicant be capable of sending voice communications in a packetized digital format if the exemption is granted? If not, why not? If so, how is it different from a CLEC?
9. Will the applicants' DSL feature an ''always on'' capability common to DSL offerings? If not, why not? If so, how is it different from a CLEC or ILEC that offers basic DSL?
10. Will an applicant have to use a customer's twisted-copper system, currently provided by an ILEC or CLEC, to provide this service in instances where a customer has only one access line to their residence or business? If not, why not? If so, how is an applicant that needs the state equivalent of ''line sharing'' or unbundled Network Elements (UNEs) different from an ILEC or CLEC?
11. Will an applicant need to provide a DSLAM and/or splitter at the customer's premises and/or in the premises of an ILEC, CLEC or IXC to provide this service? If not, why not? If so, how is the applicant providing splitter and/or DSLM functions different from a CLEC or ILEC that offers basic DSL?
12. Will an applicant be able to access the central office facilities of a CLEC or IXC as part of its analog/digital services, and secure there the NXXs needed for analog and digital communications, using the ILEC or CLEC's twisted copper lines from the customers premises? If no, why not? If so, how is the applicant different from a CLEC of ILEC that offers basic DSL?
13. Describe in detail, sufficient for staff to analysis, the time and expenses devoted to preparing tariff proposals for E-911, TRS, and other state policy programs that will be avoided if this exemption is granted?
14. Explain why the applicant should be exempt from state policy programs, such as E-911, TRS, and other programs that currently support, or could ultimately support, Pennsylvania's communications system as determined by the Pennsylvania legislature?
15. Identify those provisions of the TA-96 that prohibit a state from supplementing federal efforts in support of E-911, TRS, and other state programs sufficient to justify the exemption as a matter of federal law?
16. Explain why the Pennsylvania Commission should differentiate a telecommunications provider's obligations involving the delivery of telecommunications in the Commonwealth on the basis of the technology used to deliver those telecommunications?
17. Will the new entrant's proposed DSL service require that subscribers to the service have access to dial tone?
18. If the new entrant's DSL subscribers will have access to dial tone, explain how that dial tone will be provided.
19. If the new entrant's DSL subscribers will have access to dial tone, will the dial tone provide access to the public switched network or be routed to an independent network?
20. If the new entrant's proposed DSL service will be used over the public switched network, explain how voice transmissions will be separated from data transmissions through the passive splitter. Provide diagrams and documentation that explains the type of any hardware and software that the applicant will use to accomplish splitting the voice and data traffic. Is the passive splitter available today?
21. Will the new entrant's proposed DSL service require the assignment of a telephone number to the DSL subscriber?
22. If the new entrant's proposed DSL service will require the assignment of a telephone number to the DSL subscriber, explain how it will be assigned to the DSL subscriber for purposes of using this service (e.g., are there different procedures required in obtaining that telephone number as compared to a traditional voice telephone number?). Also please provide any customer notification that will be sent to subscribers, particularly residential subscribers, informing them about the differences with the DSL telephone number as compared to a traditional voice telephone number.
23. If a telephone number is assigned, will any type of voice service (regardless of the manner in which it will be transmitted--i.e., traditional public switched network, packet-switched, cable, etc. or a combination of these) be provided to the end-user?
24. If a telephone number is assigned and any type of non-traditional voice service will be provided, explain the steps that the new entrant would take to provide 911 service and the Pennsylvania Telecommunications Relay Service.
25. Will the high-speed telecommunications data services that the new entrant proposes to offer go over the public switched network?
26. Does the applicant need to access to the PSTN to deliver the propose services?
27. Will the high-speed telecommunications data services that the new entrant proposes to offer be solely within an independent network owned by the new entrant or transmitted outside of its network.
28. Can its DSL service be used as a substitute for traditional voice services? If yes, does the new entrant believe that customers that use its DSL service as a substitute for traditional voice service should have access to 911 Service and Telecommunications Relay Services? Please provide a detailed explanation.
29. How should we treat a new entrant that wants to be called a CLEC yet appears to function like a CAP or a CLEC--CAP hybrid?
30. If a new entrant seeks CLEC authority but also requests a waiver of otherwise applicable voice-related/dialtone-related obligations, should the PUC grant such authority all other things being equal? Should the PUC grant the waiver?
31. Is there any reason to grant the application, but deny the waiver request and require the carrier to file the necessary tariffs?
32. Should the PUC grant CLEC authority conditional upon a company's capability to provide voice or to not provide voice service?
33. Is there a difference between a CLEC having no voice capability and a CAP? If yes, what is the difference?
34. Do contributions to 911, TRS etc. hinge on voice v. data or PSTN v. private line or analog v. digital?
35. Would the new entrant make contributions to 911, TRS, universal service fund (state or federal fund?), etc. even if the PUC granted the petition for waiver of voice/dialtone obligations?
36. Would the new entrant be allowed access to unbundled local loops at TELRIC rates as a CAP or does it need to be a CLEC to obtain loops at TELRIC rates?
37. What assurance does the PUC have that the new entrant would not be accessing NXX line assignments from a third party and thereby rendering dialtone service?
38. What are the ramifications to the PSTN if a customer of the new entrant use its line to send voice over the Internet bypassing the switch?
39. What are the grounds to approve (or reject) the new applicant's application for CLEC authority?
40. Would the PUC promote (or harm) competition by granting the new applicant's application for CLEC authority with a waiver? Please provide a detailed explanation.
41. Could the new applicant accomplish its business objectives with CAP authority independent of the CLEC authority necessary to assessing network elements and access at TELRIC rates?
42. How have other CAP resellers obtained access to the ILEC's facilities?
43. How have other states handled similar request for CLEC authority and waiver of certain voice-grade (or dial tone) obligations?
44. Should applicants seeking CLEC authority be required to file maps of their service territory? Or should they be allowed to reference the service territory of Bell, GTE North, etc.?
45. Identify any other technical concerns not addressed by the preceding questions.
46. Identify any other legal issues not addressed.
47. Identify any other policy concerns not addressed.
48. Other comments or considerations relevant to the requested waiver.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 00-822. Filed for public inspection May 12, 2000, 9:00 a.m.]
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