CenturyLink is continuing its fight for a ruling of statewide...
CenturyLink is continuing its fight for a ruling of statewide effective competition in New Mexico, a proceeding before the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission that’s many months in the process and that would open a path for less regulation of…
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the company. But the telco’s approach “is not simple but simplistic, is not straightforward but results-driven, and defies common sense,” said the U.S. Department of Defense and other federal executive agencies in a joint post-hearing reply brief this week (http://xrl.us/boax6i), which argued that wireless is no substitute for landline service. Often there’s no real competition for CenturyLink, it said, noting its “rates, service quality and terms” depend on the proceeding’s results. But the findings “command a finding of effective competition,” CenturyLink said (http://xrl.us/boax6x). It cited “basic facts of CenturyLink QC’s [Qwest Corp.] access line loss, the paltry share of customer locations within the CenturyLink QC network footprint that subscribe to CenturyLink QC service, and ever-increasing wireless substitution.” Commission staff argued (http://xrl.us/boax6z) that the PRC should deny CenturyLink’s petition and try to foster regulatory flexibility in other ways.