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Qwest penalized $7.8 million for failing to file contracts with competitors

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The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission assessed a $7.8 million penalty against Qwest Corporation on Feb. 28, 2005, for failing to file interconnection contracts with rival carriers who use Qwest’s phone network. The UTC said that the company violated federal and state laws by witholding the contracts from public review.

The decision resolves a formal complaint filed by the UTC in 2003. The violations occurred in 2000 and 2001. Qwest agreed to pay the penalty, admit to violations of law, and make changes to its business procedures as part of a settlement with the staff of the UTC and the Public Counsel Section of the Attorney General’s Office.

Thomas L. Wilson, Jr., led the staff's enforcement action. Wilson is an economist who has worked on local interconnection and competition issues since the inception of local competition in the early 1990s. He has worked for the UTC since 1986. Wilson's June 2004 written testimony documented multiple violations of federal and state law by Qwest Corporation and competitive local exchange companies who failed to meet requirements to file interconnection agreements with the UTC. The UTC based its legal and factual findings on this testimony, as well as other evidence.

The original complaint named 14 telecommunications companies, including each company that was a party to one of the Qwest unfiled agreements. The UTC had earlier resolved the complaints against all companies other than Qwest.

Each settlement between the telecommunications company and the UTC staff requires the company to acknowledge its filing obligation, commit to future compliance, and pay a monetary penalty.

The other settlements approved by the UTC are:

• Fairpoint Communications Solutions
• Electric Lightwave, LLC
• MCI WorldCom, Inc.
• Covad Communications Company
• XO Washington, Inc.
• Global Crossing Local Services, Inc.
• Integra Telecom of Washington, Inc.
• Eschelon Telecom of Washington, Inc.
• McLeod USA
• AT&T

Three companies listed in the original complaint have been dismissed from the proceeding: Allegiance Telecom, Inc., Advanced Telcom Group, and SBC Telecom.

UTC Contact: Wilford Saunders, 360-664-1245.

Posted/updated: 05/14/2007
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