Minnesota Commissioner 'Not Surprised' by Charter's Challenge to State Regulatory Authority
It's surprising that Minnesota has never been challenged over its public utilities commission's authority over interconnected VoIP services before the Charter Communications case (see 1508210040), said PUC Commissioner John Tuma at an FCBA lunch Friday. The state Department of Commerce…
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could have brought the issue up previously, but it chose to do so because, among other reasons, it wasn't collecting as much in fees, which made the department stand up and take notice, Tuma said. The commission could have turned the issue into a rulemaking opportunity, but Tuma said it believes the law is clear and there wasn't a need for more rulemaking. The issue is ongoing, but the PUC believes that "if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, has a dial tone like a duck, it's a duck," he said. The commission didn't necessarily push in the direction that the Minnesota Department of Commerce would have liked, Tuma said, but it focused "very carefully" on the preemption issue, he said. He anticipates the decision will be appealed by Charter. The major issues the commission had with Charter's transfer of services to this interconnected VoIP service is that it transferred customers to an entity that doesn't have the certificate to run a phone service in the state with no notice and that the company is no longer paying Telecommunications Access Minnesota (TAM) and Telephone Assistance Program (TAP) fees, the commissioner said. Charter did continue to provide 911 services, he said. There has been no talk of a fine being imposed on Charter, mainly because to do that in Minnesota requires the attorney general to get involved and take it to court, Tuma said. So the commission basically wants to know how Charter planned to pay the state's TAM and TAP fees for the new service, Tuma said.