Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Telecommunications topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
ND PSC approves Griggs County Telephone as local exchange carrier and eligible telecommunications carrier for Leonard, Kindred
Summary
The North Dakota Public Service Commission approved Griggs County Telephone Company’s request to be the incumbent local exchange carrier and to be designated an eligible telecommunications carrier for the Leonard and Kindred exchanges, finding the company fit, able and already serving the majority of subscribers.
The North Dakota Public Service Commission unanimously approved an order granting Griggs County Telephone Company a certificate of public convenience and necessity and designating the company as an eligible telecommunications carrier for the Leonard and Kindred exchanges in Cass County.
The commission’s order, adopted at its March 26, 2025 meeting, found that Griggs has the technical, financial and managerial ability to provide local telephone service and that including the Leonard and Kindred exchanges in Griggs’ rural study area is in the public interest for purposes of federal universal service support. The exchanges are west of Fargo and West Fargo.
Staff told the commission that Griggs has overbuilt the Leonard and Kindred exchanges with its own fiber network, serves about 95% of wireline customers there and about two-thirds of total subscribers. CenturyLink (now Lumen) filed supportive comments and asked only that the commission not make findings about CenturyLink’s incumbent local exchange carrier status.
Commissioners praised the cooperative outcome. Chairman Randy Christman said rural companies using universal-service funding have “stepped up” to move to fiber service; another commissioner called the order an example of cooperation that benefits customers.
The item carried on a voice vote with no roll-call objections. The order is recorded as case numbers PUD-24-386 (certificate) and PUD-24-387 (ETC designation).
The commission accepted that, if designated, federal universal service support received for the exchanges must be used only for maintenance and upgrading of the facilities and services for which the support is intended, consistent with the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and related federal rules.
