PSC expands Belzona Cable's ETC area and grants Brightspeed statewide certificate
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Summary
The Public Service Commission approved an expansion of Belzona Cable's eligible telecommunications carrier area (adding five census blocks) and granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity to BrightSpeed Fiber Connection LLC for statewide competitive services; both approvals were recommended by staff and adopted with conditions where noted.
The Public Service Commission on its March docket approved two telecommunications items: an expansion of Belzona Cable's eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) designation and a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) for BrightSpeed Fiber Connection LLC.
Mr. Jones, staff presenter for the telecommunications agenda, said Belzona Cable is already an ETC in Mississippi and currently receives about $6,700,000 in Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support dispersed over 10 years to serve more than 1,400 previously unserved locations in Humphreys and Sharkey counties. He told the commission Belzona has met build-out milestones and is requesting expansion to include five additional census blocks (transferred from Aristotle Unified Communications). Mr. Jones said the transfer was conditionally approved by the FCC on Feb. 27 and that Belzona plans to use approximately $488,000 in ARDOF funding to deploy fiber-to-the-home service to about 797 locations; staff recommended approval conditioned on completion of outstanding regulatory steps.
Mr. Jones also presented a request from BrightSpeed Fiber Connection LLC for a CPCN to provide facilities-based competitive local exchange and interexchange services statewide. Staff's recommendation for BrightSpeed said the company demonstrated the financial, technical and managerial qualifications to deliver statewide services and that approving the request would foster competition and expand customer choice.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about federal conditions and required supporting documents for Belzona's transfer; Mr. Jones said the FCC's conditional approval requires submission of a letter of credit and a bankruptcy opinion letter within 90 days of Feb. 27 and a completion notice showing that the assignment transaction has been consummated. Both telecommunications items were moved, seconded and adopted by the commission.
The commission recorded the approvals on the telecommunications agenda and moved on to subsequent items.