We\u2014Verizon Micronesia and Pacific Telecom Inc.\u2014are writing in regard to the article in the June 17 Marianas Variety, \u201cVerizon, PTI threaten court action vs. CTC.\u201d In that article, members of the CNMI Attorney General\u2019s office made statements that are untrue and misleading. We want to correct the record, and urge those lawyers to retract or correct their comments.<\/p>\n
Brian Caldwell and Jay Livingstone\u2014lawyers who represent the Office of Consumer Counsel and Governor Babauta, respectively\u2014are quoted as claiming that Verizon Micronesia and PTI are \u201cignoring or repudiating\u201d agreements we have entered into. Nothing could be further from the truth.<\/p>\n
As stated in the article, we have written a letter to the CTC noting that we have reached agreement with the Governor and the Consumer Counsel on virtually all of their demands, and have committed to make significant concessions to obtain approval for PTI\u2019s purchase of Verizon Micronesia. Our letter goes on to say that we \u201cwill perform in accordance with those agreed conditions and concessions\u201d if the CTC approves the sale on the agreed terms. Does that sound like a \u201crepudiation\u201d?<\/p>\n
We are committed to completing this transaction, and have agreed to provide major benefits in order to get that done. Among other things, once the sale has closed, we will:<\/p>\n
* Eliminate all toll charges for calls between Saipan, Tinian and Rota;<\/p>\n
* Freeze local telephone rates for two years, with further limitations on increases for the next three years after that;<\/p>\n
* Invest at least $20 million in capital improvements to Verizon Micronesia\u2019s network and systems over the next five years.<\/p>\n
These are measures that will be costly to us, but we are committed to taking these steps to achieve the benefits of new and invigorated ownership of Verizon Micronesia. What we can\u2019t agree to is the further demand the Governor is making\u2014that we be stripped of the undersea cable that we have invested in and that we use to provide vital service to the CNMI. As we said in our letter to the CTC, this demand is unreasonable, it is outside the CTC\u2019s authority with regard to this transaction, and by insisting on it, the Governor is jeopardizing the benefits that would result from the CTC\u2019s approving the sale on the terms that have already been agreed to.<\/p>\n
Mr. Caldwell called our letter an \u201cintimidation tactic\u201d against the CTC. We have no wish or intention to intimidate the CTC\u2014and we have no power to do so. The CTC is empowered to regulate Verizon Micronesia, and it has the sole authority in the CNMI to approve or prohibit PTI\u2019s purchase of Verizon Micronesia. As reported in the Variety earlier this week, the Governor seems to view himself, rather than the CTC, as the one who will decide whether the sale should go through. But that isn\u2019t how it works in a democracy\u2014the CTC, which we hold in high regard, is charged with making that decision as an independent agency.<\/p>\n
Our letter to the CTC only requests the CTC to exercise its authority without further delay, since this transaction has been pending for over two years, and since the people of the CNMI will not receive any of the committed benefits until the sale is completed. We are confident that the CTC will honestly and diligently do its duty to the people of the CNMI, and to the company it is charged with regulating. We will continue to do ours.<\/p>\n
Mr. Livingstone and Mr. Caldwell, set the record straight. Verizon Micronesia and PTI are honorable and will keep their commitments to the people of the CNMI. You should urge your clients to do the same, by letting the CTC make its decision without further roadblocks.<\/p>\n
Jovino G. Lorenzo, Jr.
\nVice President, Secretary and Director
\nPacific Telecom Inc.<\/p>\n
Anthony S. Mosley
\nGeneral Manager
\nMicronesian Telecommunication Corp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We\u2014Verizon Micronesia and Pacific Telecom Inc.\u2014are writing in regard to the article in the June 17 Marianas Variety, \u201cVerizon, PTI threaten court action vs. CTC.\u201d In that article, members of the CNMI Attorney General\u2019s office made statements that are untrue and misleading. We want to correct the record, and urge those lawyers to retract or correct their comments.<\/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-81993","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\/81993","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=81993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}