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Legislature to form conference panel for Verizon sale
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Posted on Jun 25 2004
The House and Senate leadership agreed yesterday to form a conference committee that would review and study issues surrounding the sale of Verizon Micronesia.
House information officer Charles Reyes disclosed yesterday that the House of Representatives would meet on Monday with its Senate counterpart at 2pm to discuss the creation of the conference committee.
The two houses would also identify members of the committee, who would look into the ongoing negotiation between the CNMI government and Pacific Telecom Inc.
“Both Senate and the House are in agreement of the Verizon sale. They are in support of that. This would show that despite differences in opinion, the House and the Senate continue to work together in a cooperative spirit to benefit their constituents,” said Reyes.
Reyes said the move to create the conference committee came amid concerns over the magnitude of the requirements being set by the CNMI government for the sale to go through.
Last week, the Commonwealth Telecommunications Commission rejected Gov. Juan N. Babauta’s proposal on the establishment of special enforcement provisions and the imposition of a $10-million performance bond on Pacific Telecoms Inc., once it acquires control over Verizon’s local operation from Micronesian Telecommunications Corp.
This development narrows the dispute arising from the Governor’s intervention in the application for the approval of the sale to two issues—the financial audit to be completed by Deloitte and Touche to determine financial capability and Verizon’s monopoly of the CNMI’s fiber optic cable.
CTC chairman Norman Tenorio, commissioners Mike Fitzgerald and Josephine Mesta unanimously voted to reject Babauta’s and CNMI consumer counsel Brian Caldwell’s joint proposal on the enforcement provisions and bond requirement, inching the Verizon transaction a step closer to possible approval by the CTC.
