New phone rules could hurt rural customers

Rule changes for telecommunications companies recommended by the Iowa Utilities Board have met with a mix of support and concern by those in the industry and state advocates.

New guidelines proposed last month by the board include eliminating benchmark requirements for utility companies when it comes to restoring services during outages and doing away with requiring telephone companies provide customers with printed phone books.

Those in the industry say the new rules will help Iowa keep up with changes in technology and meet the demands of a majority of consumers. Others say new rules would make it difficult, if not impossible, for some Iowans to receive access to emergency services or make calls when they need to the most.

Mark Schuling, Iowa's consumer advocate with the Iowa Office of Consumer Advocate, said he fears the changes would be most harmful to Iowa's more rural or elderly populations — particularly those without cellphones or internet access.

'We still know there's instances out there where the landline is the service of last resort,' Schuling said. 'The issues we have are of the health, welfare and safety of the consumers.'

Meanwhile, some in the industry have praised the new rules as much-needed updates to Iowa's antiquated regulations on telecommunication companies.

'We definitely support the proposed rule changes — the Iowa Utilities Board has taken into account the drastic changes in the industry,' said Michael Sadler, director of government relations with CenturyLink. 'The landline industry is part of the business that's vastly declining, and as a state we need to start making that transition from landlines to the world of internet.'

The Iowa Utilities Board on May 18 issued an order to commence rule making, which opens up the public-comment session for the proposed amendments. Written comments can be made to the board up until July 1 and a public hearing session is planned for Aug. 9 in Des Moines.

Changes are aimed at eliminating obsolete and unnecessary requirements and reflect the board's objective to adopt rules that minimize the regulatory burden on the telecommunications industry as a whole, according to the order document.

Outages

Current Iowa Utilities Board rules require all out-of-service reports be cleared and service restored within 72 hours of an outage.

However, rule changes recommended by the board would eliminate those benchmark requirements in favor of existing language that has the utility reestablish service 'with the shortest possible delay.' Priority would be given to residential customers who state that telephone service is essential to a medical emergency.

CenturyLink officials earlier this year requested from the Iowa Utilities Board a waiver of those same outage restoration requirements. That waiver — which hasn't been ruled on by the board — was sought following 27 customer complaints over the length of time it took Qwest Corp., doing business as CenturyLink, to restore telephone services during an outage.

Any changes by the board to outage requirements would not affect the ongoing waiver request, Sadler said.

Sadler said the company's participation in the Federal Communications Commission's Connect America Fund program — CenturyLink is one of 10 telecommunications carriers to receive nearly $9 billion in federal funding over six years to expand rural broadband — make it difficult to restore service within the 72-hour requirement.

'I guess the basis there is, as of any company, our resources are limited. As a business you have to devote your resources to where they're best used,' Sadler said.

Anthony Carroll, advocacy director for Iowa AARP, which has close to 370,000 Iowa members, said he is concerned such rules ignore the needs of those who rely solely on landline services. Those services often include Iowa's older population.

'It's outright unacceptable that we would get rid of the outage service standards,' Carroll said. 'Those standards are in place for a reason.

'There's expectations of reliability that come with a landline that just don't come with cellphones.'

Sadler said utility companies still will be driven by competition in the market to restore service as fast as possible.

Dave Duncan said competition is less a factor in rural markets, but added that local cooperatives will remain committed to customers. He is chief executive officer with the Iowa Communications Alliance, which represents about 125 Iowa-based — and often rural — telephone cooperatives that include North Liberty's Southslope Cooperative Communications and Atkins Telephone Co.

'Our companies will continue to restore service in a very expedited manner, whether there's a rule in place or not,' Duncan said. 'Everybody knows everybody, so when there's an outage, by golly, we're going to get out there and fix it right away.'

Phone books

Another rule change would allow telephone companies to opt out of providing their customers with phone books as long as they provide an online or digital equivalent.

Sadler described this change, too, as a much-needed update to state rules.

'I think the day of phone directories is in the past,' Sadler said. 'The majority of people have access to the internet. Granted not every single person does, but that's clear that's the direction the world is moving.'

But Schuling noted his worry is for those who still use phone books.

'My concern is for the segment of the population that doesn't have access to the internet. How are they going to find a telephone number or get help if their furnace stops working or they think they have a gas leak in their house? They have no access to that,' Schuling said.

'A link would not provide them any information at all because they have no ability to access that link.'

But Duncan said he expects companies to continue to provide customers with what they want.

'It depends on your customer base. What I'm hearing from our Iowa-based companies is, many if not most will continue to print directories for consumers,' Duncan said.

VoIP

When most Iowans make a phone call, they're commonly doing so via a time-division multiplexing service (TDM) or through voice-over internet protocol (VoIP). Both services can travel through the same landline infrastructure systems.

But while TDM works through a direct path between the caller and the receiver, VoIP creates data packets that can bounce through several sub-providers via the Internet before reaching their destination.

A recommended rule change by the utilities board would deregulate providers of VoIP services while maintaining service benchmarks for TDM providers.

The Iowa Communications Alliance's Duncan said such a change could harm in-state TDM companies by giving larger out-of-state corporations a leg up over competition. CenturyLink and AT&T have pushed for deregulating VoIP in the state legislature for years now.

'What we're opposed to is the creation of an uneven playing field,' he said. 'It's really the same kind of call, it just uses a different kind of technology.'

Deregulation, Duncan said, could come back to harm the consumer by eliminating the board's authority over VoIP providers in times of outages.

Schuling again noted that such a change only has the potential to hurt those who rely solely on landline services.

Sadler, who said he supports deregulating VoIP, said he envisions the internet-based service becoming the more widely used technology.

'I think (the Iowa Utilities Board) is recognizing that the industry is (changing) and continues to change. I think as a regulatory party, they're doing their due diligence and making sure Iowa stays up to pace as much as they can,' he said.

As for the AARP, Carroll said the organization is not against technology. But he hopes the board's actions don't ignore those in the state who still rely on landlines.

'When we embrace technology, so too should we embrace a reasonable expectation, oversight and reasonable assurance of quality telephone service,' he said.