Lumen Plans to Resolve Mont. Copper Issues with Wireless, Satellite Subsidies

Lumen’s CenturyLink proposed giving wireless or satellite service subsidies to an estimated 600 Montana customers experiencing copper service problems. The carrier responded Monday to a Nov. 3 order in docket 2021.12.136 by the Montana Public Service Commission requiring the company to propose how to resolve a service-quality investigation. CenturyLink will subsidize eligible customers’ satellite or wireless service costs for one year, it said. The subsidy would include up to $100 monthly for monthly charges and cover any one-time non-recurring charges, it said. Eligible customers, who would have six months from the commission's order to elect to take the subsidy, would have to disconnect their CenturyLink wireline service upon activating the alternative service, it said. The carrier would send three notices directly to each eligible customer, it said. "Overall, CenturyLink’s service in Montana, including service provided over Anaconda and similar copper equipment, is reasonable, adequate, and reliable,” said the company, saying it "easily and consistently meets" the Montana PSC's rule that customer trouble reports not exceed six per 100 local access lines per month per exchange. "While CenturyLink disagrees with the assertion that the company’s network and services, taken as a whole, are unreasonable, inadequate, or unreliable, CenturyLink is respectful of the Commission’s concerns and is open to a reasonable settlement that meets the needs of all parties and Montana consumers,” it said. Also, the carrier proposed meeting with the state commission to discuss possible legislation to relax Montana's "80/20 rule," which requires carriers requesting broadband funding to contribute at least 20% of construction costs. "The effect of this '80/20' is to preclude carriers from seeking funding (and thus expanding broadband) to the most remote portions of the state where the costs of construction are the highest and customer density is the lowest,” it said. “There is simply no economically viable way for these communities to be served, even in the presence of hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding.”