The V.I. Public Services Commission voted to give Choice Communications status as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (ETC), opening the way for the company to collect federal Universal Service Fund (USF) grants as it moves toward providing cell phone service in the territory.
The USF is a Federal Communications Commission-controlled program designed to bring better telecommunications services to rural and insular areas. Funds must be spent on improving telecommunications service in the territory. The FCC makes the final determination but usually defers to the local regulatory recommendation—in this case, that of the PSC.
Vitelco, the territory’s land line phone company, has had ETC status for many years. According to the FCC, the entire territory received in the neighborhood of $21.1 million in USF high-cost service subsidies in 2008, principally, if not exclusively, going to Vitelco. Funding is tied to the number of customers, so Choice will receive a much smaller allotment than Vitelco.
PSC Commissioner M. Thomas Jackson acted as hearing examiner on Choice’s request and reported back Thursday that there were no public comments submitted opposing Choice. Jackson recommended approval. The PSC voted to accept Jackson’s report and authorize Chairman Joseph Boschulte to issue the approval. The approval was made retroactive to March 30 to make it easier for Choice to meet federal deadlines affecting their potential USF funds.
In other business, the PSC voted to appoint Avery Williams as a technical consultant to work with the V.I. Waste Management Authority. Williams will work with WMA in achieving a compliance with issues regarding rates, surcharges and fees.
In other matters, the PSC heard testimony but took no action on former Vitelco owner Jeffrey Prosser’s motion to reconsider its May 5 vote to let the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) take ownership of Vitelco telephone and Innovative cable television companies through a credit bid.
Prosser attorney Jeffrey Moorhead, who formerly oversaw Vitelco for the PSC as a hearing examiner, made a series of accusations of misconduct by attorneys for Prosser’s creditors and by witnesses in Prosser’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. CFC attorney Kent Bressie fired back that Moorhead’s claims were false, contradicted by the court record, and part and parcel of Prosser’s pattern of false claims, delaying tactics and attempts at intimidation.
PSC Chairman Joseph Boschulte asked PSC attorney Tanisha Bailey-Roka to outline the commission’s legal options. The commission can grant or deny the petition, or it can convene new hearings, she said. If the PSC does nothing, by law the request is deemed denied after 30 days, she said. In the meanwhile, the transfer of control stands unchanged.
"By statute, a stay is automatically granted unless the utility waives it. And in fact the utility has waived it, so there is no stay," Bailey-Roka said.
No motion was made for any action on Prosser’s request. PSC attorney Boyd Sprehn said the motion for reconsideration would be kept on file and if the PSC did not hold another meeting and vote on the motion before July 6—the first business day after the 30-day time limit—the motion would then be legally dead.
