IT&E has asked the Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission to order a re-hearing on the application process of its potential competitor, Guam-based GTA Services LLC, but the decision was deferred yesterday by commissioner Viola Alepuyo pending the commission\u2019s action on a separate IT&E appeal versus GTA\u2019s application.<\/p>\n
Early this month, the commission initiated an inquiry to determine whether IT&E\u2019s rural exemption should be terminated and it authorized hearing examiner Harry Boertzel to oversee the inquiry and issue findings and recommendations. <\/p>\n
Among these inquiries is whether GTA failed to make a bona fide request for interconnection services, as requested by IT&E.<\/p>\n
Alepuyo was supposed to come out with a decision but she opted to delay this until next week, pending the report of CPUC legal counsel Anthony Long who was asked to provide a legal opinion. <\/p>\n
IT&E\u2019s request for a re-hearing, she said, is entirely separate from the bona fide request issue for interconnection services. However, Alepuyo believes that the two issues are interrelated and a decision on either matter will impact the another. She said IT&E raised some legal issues in its request for re-hearing. She promised to come out with a written order within seven days.<\/p>\n
During a Nov. 19 meeting, IT&E legal counsels Victor Torres and Steven Carrara pleaded with the commission to put off making a decision as it will render moot all their other appeals and concerns regarding GTA\u2019s application.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Carrara told Saipan Tribune that his client would like to present some arguments as it seeks a re-hearing process for GTA\u2019s application. He refused to disclose these arguments pending the commission\u2019s decision on its appeals.<\/p>\n
IT&E earlier filed a case against the commission in court for approving GTA\u2019s application. Carrara described this case as a \u201chold-over\u201d pending the commission\u2019s decision on the appeals they presented. \u201cThat case still stands but it\u2019s just stayed until we resolve everything here [at the commission level],\u201d said Carrara.<\/p>\n
According to IT&E, GTA\u2019s request was not bona fide because when made on Aug. 29, 2011, GTA did not yet possess the authority to provide intrastate service in the CNMI. It was only late last month when the commission approved a certificate of public convenience and necessity to GTA, authorizing the company to provide competitive local exchange services within the Commonwealth. IT&E asserted that GTA needed this certification before its request could be considered bona fide.<\/p>\n
IT&E, in its appeal, said that until GTA possesses the certification, it is not authorized and cannot provide telephone exchange or exchange access service in the CNMI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IT&E has asked the Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission to order a re-hearing on the application process of its potential competitor, Guam-based GTA Services LLC, but the decision was deferred yesterday by commissioner Viola Alepuyo pending the commission\u2019s action on a separate IT&E appeal versus GTA\u2019s application.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}