II. Position of Applicant
VSSI bases its request to withdraw from offering local service on technological and competitive changes occurring in the local telecommunications industry. VSSI claims the technological changes underway in the market and the increasing focus on broadband offerings will in all likelihood soon render its current bundled narrowband local service offering less competitive and less attractive than it is today.
To meet the demands of providing quality and competitive service offerings to its customers in this changing environment, Verizon has decided to discontinue the OneSource bundle of services both inside and outside Verizon's incumbent local exchange carrier service territories. Verizon intends to build its own high-speed data networks and to rely on its relationships with other companies to extend broadband service to customers outside its traditional franchise territories.
Notice requirements for transfer of a customer base from one carrier to another were adopted in D.97-06-096, establishing the following minimum requirements:
1. The notice must be in writing;
2. The carrier must provide it to customers no later than 30 days before the proposed transfer;
3. The notice must contain a straightforward description of the upcoming transfer, any fees the customer will be expected to pay, a statement of the customer's right to switch to another carrier, and a toll-free number for questions; and
4. The notice and the carrier's description of service to customers must be included in the advice letter.
VSSI asserts that its notice more than meets these requirements. It provides more than 30 days' notice, and gives customers the opportunity to consider the selection of alternate carriers or, absent any selection after a specified period of time, to default to the ILEC.
To facilitate such default transfers in the event they are required, VSSI states that it has already coordinated with the affected ILECs in California, Verizon California and Pacific, to develop transition plans. VSSI respectfully requests that the Commission direct these carriers to provide local exchange service to these customers subject to their credit requirements. VSSI states that while it will utilize its best efforts not to return to these carriers those customers who are not in good standing, VSSI has no way of knowing all of its customers that may not meet the incumbent's credit requirements. Therefore, VSSI requests that these carriers be directed to accept all these customers, subject to their right to terminate service to these customers, after proper notice, if these customers do not meet their standards for provision of service. Subject to the approval of this petition, Verizon California and Pacific have agreed to accept the transitional customers.
VSSI claims that its plan, once approved by the Commission, also satisfies the requirements of state law. Public Utilities Code Section 2889.5 which prohibits changes in telephone service provider without customer authorization, states in part:
"No telephone corporation ... shall make any change or authorize a different telephone corporation to make any change in the provider of any telephone service ... of a telephone subscriber until all of the following steps have been completed."
The Commission has reviewed the applicability of Public Utilities Code Section 2889.5 to customer base transfers, and has determined that "Section 2889.5 was not specifically written nor intended to impose its rigorous requirement on customer base transfers." (D.97-12-119, 1997 Cal. PUC LEXIS 1146 *2.) Instead, in D.97-06-096, the Commission established the notice requirements discussed above to be applies in the case of customer base transfers such as that involved here. VSSI requests that the Commission reiterate its prior ruling that customer base transfers are not subject to Section 2889.5.
VSSI's request to transfer its customer base applies only to its local bundled service offering. VSSI intends to continue offering intraLATA and long distance services, and therefore, customers will not be changed with respect to such services unless they specifically request and authorize such change.
