House asks CTC for Verizon deal reports

House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial has advised the Commonwealth Telecommunications Commission to look into the issues surrounding the stock purchase of Verizon to ensure that the CNMI’s telecommunication system do not suffer in the long run.

And to understand more the ongoing negotiations, Fitial has asked the CTC board to provide the Legislature with copies of reports relating to the ongoing discussion on the purchase of Verizon’s local operation, Micronesia Telecommunications Corp.

Fitial told members of the CTC board that, in order for the House of Representatives to understand the ongoing negotiations and the basis of the inquiries being conducted, the commission needs to provide all information to the Legislature.

“I am glad that the commission is working diligently to expedite the solution of the issue. Knowing the history of the CNMI’s telecommunication system and its transformation through the years, I don’t want the system we have go back to where it came from,” Fitial said.

He said the House leadership needs to study the origin and the basis of all the questions posed by the CNMI government, the ongoing audit review, the $10 million security bonding and other issues relating to the Verizon sale.

“We don’t have information; to be able to make meaningful observation on the proceedings, we would need these things,” Fitial said.

Also, the speaker warned the CNMI government to be wary of free riders who claim to be investors.

Special adviser to the governor Adam Turner promised to provide the House with copies of the settlement agreement and the briefs submitted by the parties involved—the CNMI government, Verizon/Micronesia Telecommunication Corp, and the buyer, Pacific Telecom Inc.

On Tuesday, the CTC board deferred its decision on two major issues surrounding the sale of Verizon to PTI. CTC officials required that the remaining unresolved matters—enforcement provisions and the $10 million security bond—be resolved at once and ordered that all briefs be submitted in 21 days, in hopes of getting an adequate record of the issues that need to be decided on.

CTC commissioner Josephine DLG. Mesta urged Verizon/MTC and PTI to develop adequate briefs that would be reviewed when the board meets again next month.

During Monday night’s meeting, the commissioners asked several questions of Verizon, PTI, and the lawyers representing the governor and the Attorney General’s Office and asked them to submit their responses in the briefs.

CTC chair Norman Tenorio also asked PTI to provide a comprehensive report on the bonding issue, after the company raised concerns over the difficulty of securing the $10-million bond, which the Babauta administration had proposed through counsels James Livingstone and Brian Caldwell.

In its order, CTC also asked the two parties to address the inter-island cable issue, including cable divestiture and regulated pricing on the existing fiber optic cable. The commission appointed Assistant Attorney General Alan J. Barak as the hearing officer on the inter-island cable issue.

According to Turner, the two remaining issues and the audit report would be discussed when additional information asked from the two parties are submitted.

PTI is currently being audited by Deloitte Touche & Tohmatsu.

To be addressed also are issues on Sprint pricing and the ADA compliance of relay services.