PTI-MPLA negotiations yet to resume

Talks between the Marianas Public Lands Authority and Pacific Telecom Inc. have yet to resume, even though both camps have indicated willingness to get back to the negotiating table.

“They [PTI representatives] haven’t contacted us yet,” MPLA attorney Ramon Quichocho said.

Yesterday, Quichocho said the MPLA and PTI had a case management conference before Saipan’s U.S. District Court in connection with the lawsuit filed by the government agency against the telecom firm.

In October 2005, the MPLA and its board sued PTI and Micronesian Telecommunications Corp., which PTI wholly owns, at the Superior Court for alleged breach of public land leases and for alleged improper use of public lands easement in burying their cables without paying the agency easement fees.

On Nov. 2, however, PTI and MTC sought the transfer of the MPLA’s lawsuit against them from the CNMI court to Saipan’s federal court, alleging that the agency’s causes of action were based on claims that infringe upon the U.S. Constitution and federal law.

MTC and PTI filed with the federal court a notice of removal, saying that MTC is a duly franchised CNMI telecommunications local exchange carrier subject to the provisions of the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. The companies also accused MPLA of engaging in discriminatory practices, particularly in the agency’s bid to impose certain public land lease and easement requirements.

The dispute between the MPLA and the telecom company stemmed from disagreement over easement fees arising from the use of right-of-way on public lands to bury telecom cables. The MPLA has demanded that PTI pay some $2.1 million as easement fees, but the telecom firm disputed this and said that the easement formed part of its franchise with the CNMI government. The company also said the MPLA could not retroactively impose the fees.

The MPLA filed the suit in early October after the companies disputed its demand for payment of easement fees—less than a month after PTI purchased all of MTC’s common stocks for approximately $60 million.

Following the MPLA’s filing of the suit, talks bogged down until Gov. Juan N. Babauta announced on Oct. 20 that he had urged the MPLA to get back to the negotiating table. Renewed talks bogged down last Oct. 27. Both parties subsequently indicated willingness to settle the matter through out-of-court negotiations.