Agenda Date:  May 21, 1999
 Item Number:  2A and 2B
   

Dockets:  UT-981560
   UT-981587


Company Names: U S WEST Communications, Inc.
   CenturyTel of Washington, Inc., d/b/a CenturyTel 

Staff:   Glenn Blackmon, Assistant Director-Telecommunications
   David Griffith, Telecommunications Engineer
   Penny Hansen, Public Involvement Coordinator
   
Recommendation: 
. 
Approve the request for extension of time for providing Extended Area Service 
to July 24, 1999, between Bremerton/Port Orchard and Arletta/ Burley/Fox 
Island/Gig Harbor and Lakebay.

Introduction: 
On February 10, 1999,  the Commission approved filings by U S WEST and 
CenturyTel to expand the local calling area in the south end of the Kitsap 
Peninsula.  Currently calls between the area served by CenturyTel (Gig Harbor, 
Burley, Arletta, Olalla, Lakebay, and Fox Island) and the area served by U S 
WEST (Port Orchard and Bremerton) incur toll charges.

The tariffs filed by the companies stated that calls would be treated as local 
beginning June 19, 1999.

On May 4, 1999, U S WEST informed Commission staff that their switch in Colby, 
which is part of the Port Orchard exchange, would not be ready for accepting 
local calls from CenturyTel customers until September.  Both companies said 
that they would ask the Commission for permission to delay the local calling 
area expansion until that time.

The requested delay would affect the local calling area of about 75,000 
customers with the following telephone number prefixes:

CenturyTel (area code 253):
 Gig Harbor/Olalla/Burley - 851, 853, 857, 858
 Arletta - 265
 Fox Island - 549
 Lakebay - 884

U S WEST  (area code 360):
 Port Orchard - 769, 871, 874, 876, 895
 Bremerton - 373, 377, 405, 415, 475, 476, 478, 479, 792


Discussion:
During discussions with U S WEST the company informed Commission staff that the 
Colby switch was out of capacity and would be replaced by a newer, larger 
switch on July 24, 1999. Because of its capacity problems, U S WEST did not 
want to attempt to increase the number of local calls going into Colby.  Severe 
trunk blocking problems occurred last year in the Bremerton/Silverton area 
leading to widespread customer complaints.  The company did not want to 
recreate a similar situation on the Colby switch this year.  

U S WEST originally provided the Commission with a service date of September 1, 
1999, for local calling between the Colby switch and CenturyTel customers.   On 
May 13, 1999, Staff informed U S WEST that it would not recommend approval of a 
delay until September 1, 1999.

On May 18, 1999, U S WEST agreed to shorten the requested delay and implement 
the expanded local calling area on July 24, 1999, coincident with turning on 
the new Colby switch. 

Commission staff reluctantly recommends that the Commission grant a delay until 
July 24, 1999. It appears that U S WEST will not have adequate capacity on June 
19, 1999, to accommodate expanded local calling.  Staff has considered the 
option of requiring that calls be converted to local on that date despite the 
shortage of capacity, and we believe it would adversely affect customers.  
Doing so could also hinder U S WEST’s effort to install the necessary capacity.

Conclusion:
Staff recommends that the Commission grant a delay until July 24, 1999.