Qwest asked the Ariz. Corporation Commission (ACC) to keep secret...
Qwest asked the Ariz. Corporation Commission (ACC) to keep secret the amount of restitution it would pay to individual CLECs if it adopts Qwest’s latest proposed settlement of charges that Qwest made secret preferential deals with selected CLECs to…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
buy their silence. Qwest proposed to pay an $11 million fine and $11.7 million in restitution to 3 CLECs -- AT&T, Arizona Dialtone and Time Warner Telecom -- which weren’t offered the special deals. But Qwest asked that the amount paid to each be kept proprietary. Qwest also wouldn’t be required to admit wrongdoing. The Ariz. Residential Utility Consumer Office, a watchdog agency, and CLECs left out of the settlement condemned the offer as a secret agreement to settle secret- dealmaking charges. A previous settlement offer, rejected last Dec. by Administrative Law Judge Jane Rodda, had proposed a $5.2 million fine, $6 million in specific network improvements, and $10 million in CLEC restitution. Rodda objected to the network improvement payment and that Qwest wouldn’t have to admit guilt. She proposed an alternative under which Qwest would pay an $11 million fine, pay $10 million in CLEC restitution, and make a public admission that it broke the law. The ACC plans an April 27 vote on which proposal to accept. Meanwhile, more details emerged about Qwest’s proposal in Colo. to settle secret dealmaking charges there (CD April 16 p9). Under the agreement between Qwest and the Colo. Office of Consumer Counsel, $5.5 million of Qwest’s penalty would go into a low-income telephone assistance fund while the remaining $2 million would fund a 911 emergency resource center. Additionally, Qwest would pay all Colo. CLECs a retroactive 10% credit on wholesale purchases made between Jan. 2002 and June 2002. It also would have to submit to an annual audit of its wholesale operations and continue for 3 years a special training program for wholesale product and marketing managers.