DR 96-420
FREEDOM RING, L.L.C.
Petition Requesting that Incumbent LECs Provide
Customers with a Fresh Look Opportunity
Order Opening a Fresh Look Opportunity in Manchester
and Nashua Exchanges and Clarifying Procedures for
Obtaining and Providing Termination Charge Information
O R D E R N O. 22,903
April 17, 1998
Order No. 22,798 in this docket granted long-term
contract customers of New England Telephone and Telegraph Company
d/b/a Bell Atlantic-New Hampshire (Bell Atlantic) a 180 day Fresh
Look opportunity beginning on the date that the New Hampshire
Public Utilities Commission (Commission) verifies that a
competitor is operational within a given geographic area
identified by NXX prefixes. On March 18, 1998 New England Fiber
Communications LLC d/b/a Brooks WorldCom (Brooks) notified the
Commission that it is providing commercial local exchange service
in the below-listed Bell Atlantic exchanges in Manchester and
Nashua. This order verifies that Brooks is operational within
these exchanges. Accordingly, within these exchanges, a Fresh
Look opportunity as described in Order No. 22,798 begins on the
date this order issues and ends at midnight on October 14, 1998.
The relevant exchanges are:
Manchester: 621, 622, 623, 624, 625, 626, 627, 628, 629,
633, 634, 641, 644, 645, 647, 656, 663, 665,
666, 668, 669, 695, 940, 976
Nashua: 577, 578, 579, 594, 595, 598, 791, 879, 880,
881, 882, 883, 884, 885, 886, 888, 889, 891, 897
Pursuant to Order No. 22,798, now that we have verified
that a competitive local exchange carrier is operational in New
Hampshire Bell Atlantic shall notify all long-term contract
customers about Fresh Look via a bill insert approved by the
Commission. To further publicize Fresh Look, we will issue a
press release on the subject, including the Commission's Website
address at which customers may obtain Fresh Look information.
Customers having telephone numbers beginning with any
of the NXX prefixes listed above may, during the 180 day Fresh
Look opportunity, terminate long-term special contracts and
tariff contracts pursuant to our Order No. 22,798. By that
order, we excluded long-term intraLATA toll contracts from the
Fresh Look opportunity because the toll market is open to
competition. By this order we clarify that Private Line service
is similarly excluded from the Fresh Look opportunity because
Private Line service is similarly open to competition and is not
a local exchange service.
In order to take advantage of a Fresh Look opportunity,
a customer's long-term contract must have two years remaining and
the customer must have received a bona fide offer to provide the
services from a competing local exchange carrier (CLEC).
Customers taking advantage of a Fresh Look opportunity are
subject to a termination charge calculated by Bell Atlantic using
the formula we described in Order No. 22,798.
A customer for whom a Fresh Look opportunity has opened
pursuant to Commission order, as it will for Manchester and
Nashua customers on issuance of this order, may request that Bell
Atlantic calculate termination charges at any time. In addition,
a CLEC which is acting as the customer's agent may request that
Bell Atlantic calculate the termination charge. Requests for
Bell Atlantic to calculate termination charges may be either
written or verbal. Bell Atlantic has arranged for verbal
requests to be handled via an 800 number at 1-800-695-3230.
When customer requests are submitted along with notice
of receipt of a CLEC's bona fide offer to provide service, Bell
Atlantic shall produce termination charge calculations within a
maximum of 3 business days for tariff contracts and within a
maximum of 5 business days for special contracts. When requests
are not accompanied by notice of receipt of a CLEC's bona fide
offer to provide service, Bell Atlantic shall produce termination
charge calculations within a maximum of 6 business days for
tariff contracts and within a maximum of 10 business days for
special contracts.
A customer shall not lose its Fresh Look opportunity
simply because of a dispute arising between Bell Atlantic and the
long-term contract customer, or its CLEC agent, which results in
the expiration of the 180 day period prior to resolution of the
dispute. A customer who tenders a request to Bell Atlantic to
terminate a long-term contract, that is, submits a notice of
receipt of a CLEC's bona fide offer to provide service along with
a request for termination charge calculations, within the 180 day
period, shall retain eligibility for Fresh Look after the 180 day
period runs.
Competing carriers which meet the four-point test we
identified in Order 22,798 as constituting an operational CLEC
must notify the Commission of that status in a timely manner.
Delay in making timely notification could cause an unjustified
extension of the Fresh Look opportunity. Therefore, if
unwarranted delay occurs, we may establish a Fresh Look window
retroactive to a date we consider appropriate in the
circumstances.
Although the parties and Staff raised the issue of
whether resale opportunities obviated the need for a Fresh Look
opportunity, we have not fully considered whether the four-point
test, applied to resellers, opens a Fresh Look opportunity.
Therefore, we seek comments on that issue from all interested
parties.
Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby
ORDERED, that a 180 day Fresh Look opportunity is open
in the Manchester and Nashua exchanges listed above; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED, that termination charge calculations
shall be requested and provided as discussed above; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED, that Order No. 22,798 is clarified as
noted above; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED, that a hearing be held before the
Commission located at 8 Old Suncook Road, Concord, New Hampshire
on May 8, 1998, at 10:00 a.m., at which interested parties may be
heard on the issue of the effect of reseller operation on Fresh
Look; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED, that the Commission's Executive
Director shall notify all authorized resellers about this hearing
by letter mailed on or before April 21, 1998.
By order of the Public Utilities Commission of New
Hampshire this seventeenth day of April, 1998.
Douglas L. Patch Bruce B. Ellsworth Susan S. Geiger
Chairman Commissioner Commissioner
Attested by:
Kimberly Nolin Smith
Assistant Secretary