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 Portsmouth
O R D E R N O. 23,061
November 6, 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 exchange identified by
central office codes. A Fresh Look opportunity provides for a
lower contract termination charge to the Bell Atlantic customer
than would normally be required under the contract agreement thus
improving the customer's ability to seek competitive
alternatives.
By Order No. 23,030 dated October 5, 1998, the
Commission clarified Order No. 22,798 "to indicate that only the
presence of facility-based competitive local exchange carriers
(CLECs), not the existence of operational resellers within a
particular geographical area, triggers the Fresh Look window".
On October 29, 1998 Freedom Ring Communications L.L.C., d/b/a
BayRing Communications (BayRing) notified the Commission that it
is providing commercial local exchange service in the Bell
Atlantic Portsmouth exchange. This order verifies that BayRing,
a facility-based CLEC, is operational within the Portsmouth
exchange. Accordingly, a Fresh Look opportunity as described in
Order No. 22,798 begins on the date this order issues and ends at
midnight on May , 1999.
The relevant Portsmouth central office codes are:
245, 334, 422, 427, 430, 431, 433, 436, 559.
Because it has been more than six months since Bell
Atlantic notified customers of Fresh Look, we will require Bell
Atlantic to notify all long-term contract customers in the
Portsmouth exchange, excluding all other customers, about Fresh
Look via the bill insert formerly approved by the Commission.
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 Order No. 22,903 we further clarified 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 Portsmouth 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 and clarified in Order No. 23,030 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.
Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby
ORDERED, that a 180 day Fresh Look opportunity is open
in the Portsmouth exchange, identified by the central office
codes 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 Bell Atlantic notify, via a bill
insert, only long term contract customers in the Portsmouth
exchange, of the Fresh Look opportunity which begins on the date
of this order and ends on May 5, 1999.
By order of the Public Utilities Commission of New
Hampshire this sixth day of November, 1998.
Douglas L. Patch Susan S. Geiger Nancy Brockway
Chairman Commissioner Commissioner
Attested by:
Thomas B. Getz
Executive Director and Secretary