Settlement Talks Stall in Minn. Lumen Probe

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission should have hearings in its Lumen service-quality investigation, said Minnesota Commerce and Attorney General offices and Communications Workers of America in a Tuesday letter in docket C-20-432. The three intervenors said, after eight months of settlement talks with Lumen’s CenturyLink with no resolution, they “have concerns with the pace and scope of the discussion and believe other action may be appropriate.” Intervenors “are concerned that consumers may be experiencing problems with CenturyLink’s service that are beyond the scope of the originally filed complaint,” they added. The PUC should have at least six hearings in different parts of the state to collect comments from consumers, local officials and others about service-quality problems, intervenors said. The PUC paused the probe in December to allow for settlement talks (see 2112150049). Lumen has “been working cooperatively" with the intervenors to resolve their concerns, said a spokesperson."We are disappointed that they have moved in this direction."