FairPoint Seeks Hearing on Maine Service Quality Violations
Facing a $500,000 proposed penalty for service quality violations in Maine, FairPoint Communications asked the Public Utilities Commission to allow it to present evidence in an adjudicatory hearing and to submit argument. “The due process guarantees in the United States…
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and Maine Constitutions entitle FairPoint to a fair hearing when, as here, state government seeks to deprive the Company of its property through the assessment of a monetary penalty related to provider of last resort (“POLR”) service quality,” the company said in a Monday motion. The PUC gave FairPoint no notice it would take action, the telco said. In a Sept. 14 examiner’s report, the PUC said “FairPoint has not placed appropriate emphasis on its statutory obligation to provide acceptable service quality … to its POLR service customers,” as measured by service quality index (SQI) benchmarks: “The Company has demonstrated that it has placed very little emphasis on meeting the SQI benchmarks, in part by apparently prioritizing trouble reports for non-regulated services (such as broadband) ahead of repair actions for POLR customers. While providing high quality broadband service is important to the Company's future, it cannot ignore its service quality obligations to its POLR customers.” Comments on the examiner’s report are due Oct. 21. Maine recently passed a law to remove FairPoint POLR obligations in phases, and Vermont is reviewing FairPoint service quality reporting rules (see 1609130057).