FCC Takes More Time To Review Sprint Long-Distance Discontinuance Bid
The FCC held up Sprint's application to discontinue long-distance services to domestic wireline customers, saying it needed more time to review comments from 11 parties. In a public notice issued Friday, the commission said Sprint's application under Section 214 of…
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the Communications Act wasn't automatically granted, emphasizing that the action shouldn't be considered a final determination. The Oglala Sioux Tribe Utility Commission (OSTUC) had said the application shouldn't be granted until Sprint complied with obligations to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (see 1509140033). In other comments filed in docket 15-186, 10 individuals objected to, or voiced concerns about, Sprint's plans to discontinue the long-distance services. Sprint had no comment Monday. Sprint said in a filing that the OSTUC comment was "untimely and substantively flawed," noting that although the comment was dated Sept. 1, it wasn't received until Sept. 11. Sprint said OSTUC's concerns largely weren't relevant to the FCC's discontinuance process and were otherwise "meritless." In a separate response to the filings of the 10 individuals (most of which were hand-written), Sprint noted that all seemed concerned about the difficulty of finding inexpensive alternatives. The company said it had reached out to all of them with additional information regarding "the numerous available options for obtaining replacement services at acceptable rates from alternative providers." Several of them indicated they had already transferred their service to new providers, "demonstrating the availability of acceptable alternatives," Sprint said. While the others expressed reservations about changing service, "generally due to their positive experiences with Sprint, none of the commenters requested a delay in the discontinuance of service, and many of them expressed appreciation that Sprint reached out to discuss the matter," the company said. The telco asked the commission to approve its application.