GTE-Bell merger plan to protect CNMI

Telecommunications use in the Northern Marianas has been guaranteed to remain at an affordable level despite the proposed merger of United States telephone giants GTE Corporation and Bell Atlantic Corporation.

This, as the telephone companies, collectively known as GTE/Bell, modified their proposed merger plan that now awaits action from the Federal Communications Commission.

The adjusted merger plan would extend important regulatory safeguards to the Northern Marianas. The plan was modified following a petition filed by with the FCC by the CNMI government.

Lt. Gov. Jesus R. Sablan, whose office filed the petition through its telecommunications counsel Thomas K. Crowe P.C., said the change in GTE/Bell’s position is a potentially important victory for CNMI consumers.

Last March 1, 2000, the CNMI government protested the revisions made earlier this year by GTE/Bell to the merger plan in the form of a Petition to Deny filed before the FCC.

The revisions would have excluded the Northern Marianas from protections against anti-competitive practices which were part of the original plan.

The Commonwealth expressed strong opposition to this exclusion, claiming that the move was based entirely on the remoteness of the CNMI from the mainland U.S., as well as its small market size compared with other American states.

Primarily because of the CNMI’s protest, GTE/Bell formally modified its merger plan last April 14, 2000. The modifications extend some of the protections to Northern Marianas consumers.

The modified plan defines the Northern Mariana Islands as a GTE State, which qualifies the Commonwealth to the list of areas where the Proposed Conditions of the merger will be equally applied.

“I am pleased that GTE and Bell Atlantic are beginning to consider the needs of CNMI consumers. Our goal is to ensure that CNMI consumers receive the same benefits and protections under the merger plan as consumers in other parts of the mainland U.S.,” said Mr. Sablan.

Under the modified merger plan, the CNMI would be included in GTE/Bell’s enhanced Lifeline plan designed to offer discounts and other incentives to make telephone use more affordable in the CNMI.

The modified plan would also extend protections to the CNMI to facilitate the rollout of broadhand Internet or digital subscriber line services and apply service quality reporting obligations.

It will also guarantee certain enforcement conditions and alternative dispute mediation that were not part of the telecom companies’ original merger plan.

However, the adjusted plan does not extend all of the protections to CNMI consumers. The plan does not apply certain safeguards designed to promote local telephone service competition to the Northern Marianas.

The safeguards in the plan are due to expire three years after the federal communications body approves the GTE/Bell merger.

Once the merger is approved, GTE Pacifica, along with the CNMI’s largest telephone service provider Micronesian Telecommunications Corporation, will become a subsidiary of Bell Atlantic.

At present, Bell Atlantic provides local telephone service in about 13 American states and the District of Columbia. The GTE-Bell merger will make the company the largest local telephone company in the U.S.