House passes measure addressing telecom competition

More people are dropping their landlines in favor of cellphones and legacy phone companies are seeking to level the playing field with their new competitors. HF1066 would allow these providers to be regulated the same way as others.

Sponsored by Rep. Ron Kresha (R-Little Falls), the House passed the bill, as amended, 122-6 on Thursday.

Rep. Ron Kresha

“The issue has been on the table for 10 years,” Kresha said. He explained there are two categories of telecommunication businesses, and those entering the market before 1996 are subject to different regulations than those that followed.

“We needed to work through all the regulations and make it equal. Everything in the bill has broad agreement,” he said.

The bill now moves to the Senate with Sen. Dan Sparks (DFL-Austin) as its sponsor.

Under the bill, if certain competitive criteria are met, a local exchange company could request the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission for a regulatory break.

“The current regulations stem from the time when telephone companies were regulated as monopolies,” said Rep. Sheldon Johnson (DFL-St. Paul). “Now we have cable companies, Internet companies, and this provides for a level playing field and provides good competition for the voice industry.”

According to a bill summary prepared by the nonpartisan House Research Department, among other provisions, the bill:

• lists the information that must be included in a petition to the PUC by a local exchange carrier seeking to be regulated in an exchange service area;
• provides that a petition is deemed approved if no objections to it are filed within 20 days of its filing with the commission; and
• specifies market criteria that must be met including the local exchange carrier’s market share, number and type of competitors present, the absence of significant barriers to entry and the inability of a single provider to deter competition.