Choice's request to use high-speed Innovative Telephone lines is denied

ST. THOMAS - The Public Services Commission on Tuesday denied arequest from Choice Communications to require Innovative Telephone,Choice's chief competitor, to provide access to telecommunicationslines that are capable of handling an extremely high call volume.

Innovative Telephone, which has the high-capacity lines known asDS3, has said that there is not enough demand for the service towarrant expanding access. Innovative does not sell the service tocustomers but does use it in-house.

Choice, which wants to purchase access to the DS3 lines so it canexpand its Internet service, had asked the commission to forceInnovative Telephone's hand.

Although Choice is a separate company from Innovative Telephone,it must purchase access to telephone lines from Innovative becauseInnovative owns and operates the territory's telecommunicationsinfrastructure.

Public Services' decision on Tuesday was a major blow to Choice.

"Certainly the Public Services Commission has not voted in favorof giving Virgin Islands consumers higher-speed telecommunicationsaccess," Maria Hodge, an attorney representing Choice in its casebefore the commission, said after the 4-2 vote.

Commission Chairman Valencio Jackson, Alecia Wells, AlricSimmonds and Jerris Browne voted against giving Choice access toInnovative's lines. Verne David and Desmond Maynard voted in favor.

Hodge would not comment on whether Choice will pursue other legalavenues to try to gain access to the DS3 lines. "That's somethingwe've got to discuss," she said.

Before the commission voted, Hodge told commissioners, "You areour last resort."

Since Choice first asked to use DS3 almost two years ago,Innovative Telephone has said that demand does not exist for theincreased capacity the lines offer and that the lines Innovativeprovides to its customers, known as DS1 lines, are more than capableof handling large call loads.

"The demand doesn't exist," Greg Vogt, an attorney for InnovativeTelephone, told the commission. "There's no evidence that Choice'sexisting services are inadequate."

Under the law, Choice must show it is in the public's bestinterest that Innovative Telephone provide access to the DS3 lines.

The Public Services consultant who investigated the issue for thecommission, Rosalie Simmonds-Ballentine, found that Choice did notprove "that providing this service would in fact meet publicnecessity."

Robert Aamoth, an attorney for Choice, disagreed. "If we have DS3service, our service will be faster, it will be more reliable," hesaid. "So how is that not in the public's interest?"

Choice said it would pay to install the infrastructure necessaryto allow it access to Innovative Telephone's DS3 lines.

"We were going to pay for everything. That's why it's sooutrageous that we're not getting the service," he said.

But Vogt told the commission that even if Choice signed acontract saying it would cover all the costs associated with settingup an expanded DS3 network, there was no guarantee the companyactually would follow through.

Some commissioners said they believed there was a demand for DS3service in the territory.

"I have had complaints from various companies that they couldprovide better service if they had DS3," Simmonds said.

However, the commission voted down a motion that would haveopened a new Public Services investigation into whether localbusinesses require the service, with only Browne and Jackson votingin favor of opening a docket.