In re the Minnesota Independent Equal Access Corporation's Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience & Necessity

477 N.W.2d 516, 1991 Minn. App. LEXIS 1070, 1991 WL 238529
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedNovember 19, 1991
DocketNo. C1-91-1041
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 477 N.W.2d 516 (In re the Minnesota Independent Equal Access Corporation's Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience & Necessity) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Minnesota Independent Equal Access Corporation's Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience & Necessity, 477 N.W.2d 516, 1991 Minn. App. LEXIS 1070, 1991 WL 238529 (Mich. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

OPINION

PARKER, Judge.

US West Communications, Inc., obtained a writ of certiorari, seeking review of a decision by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. US West argues the Commission erred by requiring it to appear on customer ballots in all future centralized equal access service areas in which US West was already providing long-distance service. We affirm.

FACTS

As a preface to the facts of this case, we provide the following glossary of terms, which we hope will be of assistance to the reader.

ILEC: Independent Local Exchange Company; a provider of local telephone service primarily in small communities and rural areas.
LATAs: Local Access and Transport Areas; service areas resulting from the divestiture of AT & T in 1984. There are five LATAs in Minnesota.
IntraLATA: Service within a LATA, including “short-haul” long-distance calling.
InterLATA: Long-distance service between LATAs.

As may be immediately apparent from our inclusion of this glossary, the terms and issues involved in this appeal are not often considered by the courts, but lie more within the experience of the Commission.

As further assistance to the reader, we provide a brief summary of the history leading to the present controversy.

Prior to the breakup of its telephone services network in 1984, respondent AT & T was a monopoly provider of “1 + ” long-distance services. Customers using other long-distance carriers were required to dial access codes at the beginning of each call.

Following antitrust litigation between AT & T and the U.S. Justice Department, a federal district court entered a Modification of Final Judgment (“MFJ”). United States v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co., 552 F.Supp. 131 (D.D.C.1982), aff'd, sub. nom., Maryland v. United States, 460 U.S. 1001, 103 S.Ct. 1240, 75 L.Ed.2d 472 (1983). The MFJ required divestiture by AT & T of its local telephone companies, known as the Bell Operating Companies, including Northwestern Bell Telephone Company. Northwestern Bell was subsequently restructured and renamed “US West.”

After the MFJ was entered, the federal district court approved AT & T’s plan to divide the country into LATAs. United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc., 569 F.Supp. 990 (D.D.C.1983). The MFJ required that the Bell Operating Companies provide interLATA equal exchange access to other long-distance companies. The MFJ also limited the Bell Operating Companies to providing local and intraLATA long-distance service.

The MFJ left control of intraLATA competition to the states. In 1987, the Com[519]*519mission ordered US West to provide 1+ intraLATA long-distance service to all of Minnesota’s local telephone companies (“ILECs”) for two years, or until a permanent plan could be established. In the Matter of a Summary Investigation into IntraLATA Toll Access Compensation for Local Exchange Carriers Providing Telephone Service Within the State of Minnesota, Docket No. P-999/CI-85-582 (Jan. 11, 1988) (“Docket 582”). During this two-year period, other long-distance companies could provide intraLATA long-distance service in Minnesota, but they could not provide 1+ service; their customers were required to dial additional access codes.

On February 6, 1989, respondent Minnesota Independent Equal Access Corporation (“MIEAC”), a private company, filed an application with the Commission, requesting authorization to provide a centralized equal access service to the ILECS. Pursuant to MIEAC’s proposal, an equal access customer could preselect any long-distance company as a 1+ carrier. When the customer would make a 1+ long-distance call, the call would be channeled to a central location, where MIEAC switching equipment would determine which long-distance company the customer had chosen. The call would then be routed to that long-distance company’s network. Under this plan, every long-distance company would have an equal opportunity to be a 1+ provider for customers within MIEAC’s network.

Under MIEAC’s proposal, any ILEC customer could pre-subscribe to the equal access service for both interLATA and intra-LATA service. The pre-subscription method would be by a customer balloting process.

In its application for centralized equal access service authority, MIEAC requested that US West be required to maintain intra-LATA service availability in any ILEC exchange participating in the equal access service. MIEAC also proposed that AT & T be required to maintain interLATA service availability in the participating ILEC exchanges. MIEAC did not propose similar requirements for any other long-distance carriers.

AT & T agreed to the proposed requirement, but US West objected, claiming that it should have the same option as any other long-distance company to choose the ILEC exchanges upon whose ballots it wished to appear. The controversy on appeal concerns only intraLATA service and US West’s purported attempt to limit its ballot offerings to particular ILEC exchanges.

Although US West claimed it had the right to refuse to appear on ballots, it never stated it would cease providing service to any ILEC area. Rather, US West indicated that its services would always be available to all ILEC customers, even if US West’s name did not actually appear on a particular ballot.

The Commission referred MIEAC’s application for centralized equal access service to an administrative law judge (“ALT”) for a contested-case hearing. Following the hearing, the AU issued findings of fact, conclusions of law, and a recommendation that US West should not be required necessarily to appear on all equal access ballots. The AU reasoned that US West should be allowed the opportunity to justify geographic service limitations in advance of balloting on a case-by-case basis.

The Commission reviewed the AU’s recommendations and heard arguments by the parties. On March 13, 1991, the Commission issued an order requiring US West to appear on all equal access ballots. The Commission concluded that US West’s intent to appear selectively on only some ballots would be an unreasonable limitation of its long-distance service offerings, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 237.60, subd. 3 (1990).

US West has obtained a writ of certiora-ri, seeking review of the Commission’s decision.

ISSUES

1. Did the Commission err by concluding that service area limitations are prohibited by Minn.Stat. § 237.60, subd. 3 (1990)?

[520]*5202. Did the legislature intend to include equal access balloting within the meaning of the term “service offering” in Minn.Stat. § 237.60, subd. 3?

3. Did the Commission err by determining that US West’s intent to appear selectively on certain ballots would constitute an unreasonable limitation of service?

4. Did the Commission’s application of Minn.Stat. § 237.60, subd. 3, render it, in effect, impermissible “special legislation”?

5. Has the legislature evidenced an intent to require Commission approval before a telephone company may discontinue long-distance service?

DISCUSSION

I

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Related

Matter of Mn. Indep. Equal Access
477 N.W.2d 516 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
477 N.W.2d 516, 1991 Minn. App. LEXIS 1070, 1991 WL 238529, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-minnesota-independent-equal-access-corporations-application-for-minnctapp-1991.