THEADAMS LEGAL FIRM, LLC

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TAMBER RAY JOHN B. ADAMS Of Counsel Member

RICHARD M.

March 23,2006

VIA FACSIMILE AND OVERNIGHT DELIVERY Sandra Squire, Executive Secretary Public Service Commission of West Virginia 201 Brooks Street Charleston, WV 25301

RE: Case No. 06-0195-T-CN; Shentel Converged Services of West Virginia, Inc.

Dear Ms. Squire:

Pursuant to Rule 4.3 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, I am filing in the above-referenced proceeding the enclosed “Opposition to Petition for Certificate and Petition to Intervene” on behalf of Citizens Telecommunications Company of West Virginia d/b/a Frontier Communications of West Virginia by sending two copies today via facsimile transmission and by sending an original and twelve copies, along with a “stamp and return” copy, via overnight delivery.

When the overnight package arrives, please mark as received the enclosed “stamp and return” copy and return it to the undersigned in the enclosed postage-paidypre-addressed envelope.

Thank you for your assistance with this matter.

Sincerely /Lii5%4h/ I John B. Adams WV Bar # 7605 Before the Public Service Commission of West Virginia Charleston, West Virginia

Case No. 06-0195-T-CN

SHENTEL CONVERGED SERVICES OF WEST VIRGINIA, INC.

Petition for Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity

OPPOSITION TO PETITION FOR CERTIFICATE AND PETITION TO INTERVENE

Citizens Telecommunications Company of West Virginia d/b/a Frontier

Communications of West Virginia (“Frontier”), by counsel, respectfully submits this opposition to the petition of Shentel Converged Services of West Virginia, Inc.

(“Shentel”) for a certificate of public convenience and necessity. Frontier also requests intervenor status in this proceeding. In support, Frontier states as follows:

I. Shentel filed a Petition for Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity on

February 15, 2006 (“Shentel Petition”).

2. Shentel requests that it be certificated to provide intrastate telecommunications services throughout West Virginia both on a facilities-basis and on a resale basis. Shentel

Petition at S.

3. Shentel describes the services it proposes to provide and the areas where it plans initially to provide service. Of relevance here, Shentel states that it intends to provide circuit-switched telephone service to business customers who will be located in business and office buildings to be constructed on property owned by Tackley Mill, LLC and by

Blackford Village, LLC. These properties are located near Charles Town, West Virginia. Shentel also states that it plans to provide voice telephone service to residential customers in the Charles Town area using voice-over-Internet-protocol (“VOIP”) technology.

Shentel Petition at 5-9.

4. Shentel omits a material fact from this description.

5. Shentel has entered exclusive contracts with the developers of these properties to be the exclusive provider of voice telephone and other services. Attached are copies of two newspaper articles describing the exclusive arrangements at Tackley Mill.

6. The newspaper articles focus on Tackley Mill being a residential development.

Frontier, however, believes that commercial development also will occur at Tackley Mill.

7. Based on discussions between Frontier’s local Senior Network Engineer and a representative of the developer, Shentel and the developer have entered a similar arrangement for Blackford Farm, which is contiguous to Tackley Mill.

8. Prior to the sale of the Blackford Farm property to the current developer, Frontier had begun installing equipment necessary to provide service within Blackford Farm.

Frontier has halted all construction at Blackford Farm as a result of the exclusive arrangement between the developer and Shentel.

9. Plans for Blackford Farm include construction of a conference center, hotel, church, parking facilities, medical offices, grocery and other retail shopping, bank, and buildings to house various public service agencies, such as police, fire, and school facilities. The retail shopping is planned to occupy over 263,000 square feet. The Office space will occupy approximately 37 1,000 square feet.

10. At Blackford Farm, construction of streets, along with conduits for telephone and other utilities, is underway.

2 1 1. The exclusive arrangements between Shentel and the developer of these properties prevent Frontier from building facilities to serve customers at each development.

12. The attached news article from the Quad-State Business Journal includes quotes from a Shentel representative that make clear Shentel’s intent to seek similar arrangements with other developers and builders.

13. It is unlawful for a telephone utility to enter the kind of exclusive arrangement that Shentel has entered with the developer of Tackley Mill and Blackford Farm and intends to enter with other developers.

14. Federal rules governing local competition expressly prohibit carriers from entering these kinds of exclusive arrangements with respect to “any commercial multiunit premises.” 47 C.F.R. § 64.2500. Federal rules currently do not prohibit such exclusive‘ arrangements with respect to residential customers, but the FCC is considering whether to extend this prohibition to residential customers, too. See, e.g., 47 C.F. R. § 64.2501; First

Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in WT Docket No. 99-

21 7, Fifth Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion and Order in CC Docket No.

96-98, and Fourth Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion and Order in CC

Docket No. 88-57 (FCC 00-366) (rel. Oct. 25, 2000).

15. Such exclusive arrangements also violate the West Virginia Code and the strong public policy in favor of competition.

16. Shentel’s entry of these exclusive arrangements is an unjust and unreasonable practice in violation of West Virginia Code $24-2-7(a). These arrangements also violate

3 that code section by preventing consumers from reasonably obtaining service from

Frontier and from any other carrier certificated to serve the affected areas.

17. Were Shentel already certificated, its entry of these exclusive arrangements would be a basis for putting Shentel into receivership pursuant to West Virginia Code § 24-2-

7(b) on the basis that Shentel’s management is unresponsive to the needs of customers by preventing them from obtaining service from other carriers.

18. Shentel also has violated West Virginia Code $24-2-11 to the extent that it has begun construction of any plant, equipment, facility, or property for the furnishing of service without first having obtained a certificate of public convenience and necessity.

19. Shentel’s entry into these exclusive arrangements violates the strong public policy in favor of competition. Shentel’s express efforts to prevent competition and to deny consumers the ability to obtain service from other service providers are ample basis for the Commission to deny Shentel’s Petition.

20. The omission of material fact in its petition related to the services Shentel seeks authority to provide, and the obvious intent of its management to deny consumers the ability to obtain service from other carriers despite clear rules and public policy against such anti-competitive behavior, call into question Shentel’s qualifications to obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity.

21. In addition to objecting to Shentel’s Petition, Frontier also requests to intervene in this proceeding pursuant to Rule 12.6 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and

Procedure. Intervention is permissible at any time at or before a matter is called for hearing. Further, as described above, Frontier has a clear interest in this proceeding.

4 WHEREFORE, Frontier objects to Shentel’s petition for a certificate of public convenience and necessity, and respectfully requests that the petition be denied. Frontier further respectfully requests that it be granted intervenor status in this proceeding.

Respectfully submitted,

John B. Adams, Esq., Bar # 7605 The Adams Legal Firm, LLC 626C Admiral Drive #3 12 Annapolis, MD 2 1401 202-448-9033 (tel) 202-448-9040 (fax) j badams@,adamsleaalfirm.com

March 23,2006

5 AFFIDAVIT AND VERIFICATION

State of New York ) 1 County of Monroe )

TO WIT:

I, Oregg C. Sayre, depose and state:

I am Assistant Secrctary for Citizens Telecommunications Company ofWest Vkginia d/b/a Frontier Communications of West Virginia. The facts relating to the matters addressed in Frcintim’s “Opposition to Petition for Certificate and Petition to Intervene” in Case No. OB-0195-T-CN have come to be known to me in the course of my employment. I have reviewed that document and attest that the facts described therein are true and correct to the best of my infomation, knowledge, and belief.

date I

\

Taken, subscribed, and sworn to before me this’ dayof )yLd ,2006 .

rn-& I Notary Public HOI.LY M. JAMES Notaw Public, Statc of New Yofk

, ...... 6 QUADSTATE SU!!&ZSS JOURNAL MARCH 2006 Shentel to Put Fiber to -. .. - . __, . -. New Homes in Ranson by Peter Herwagen Verizon is not the only telecom vice in the northern Shenandoah Val- hurt their ability to offer consumers wiring hadband, to the home. ley, then teaming with Sprint to offer bundled television. Internet and tele- ShenandoahTelecommunication Com- personal communications service along phone services. pany is also entering the market, albeit the Interstate 81 corridor. “We have applied for a.fian- on a smaller scale, focusing on new “This will be our fist fiber-to- chise at Tackley Mill, id we have no housing developments in the Quad- the-home arrangement,” said Nancy reason to believe it won’t be granted by state region. Stadler, vice president of marketing at the city of Ranson,” said Stadler. The Winburg, Va., company Shentel. “We already have fiber optic Adelphia Communications, has entered into an exclusive agree- going to Ranson, so we only need a Inc.is thecableTV franchiseholderfor ment with Leesburg, Va, developer one-mile extension to Tackley Miii. Jefferson County, but that company, RCMSbgacy Custom Homes to build We’ll put fiber to the house, while the still in bankruptcy, will be split up an advanced fiber optic network for builder is responsible for inside the between Time Warner Cable and Legacy’s newest community, Tackley home.” Comcast, with the latter company tak- Mill in Ranson, W.Va. Shentel will Stadler said Shenkl’s basic ing over operations in the Qud-state provide a suite of telecommunications service to the home would be paid for region because it has system in adja- solutions to the 1,000-unit develop- through the homeowners’ association cent temtories. Frontier, a unit of Chi- fees, much like garbage collection is ment, including local and long distance- zens Communications Company, isthe -- handled. Premium services will be wireline provider for Jefferson County. telephone service, digital cable TV, paid for on a residence-by-residence Hoping to take advantage of high-speed Internet access and secu- basis. its fiber optic capacity along the Inter- rity monitoring. Shentel has expcricncc in both state 8 1 corridor and thc growing vol- According to Shentel, those the cablc and broadband Internet busi- ume of housing developments in the services include Voice over Internet ness. It hits Ihe cable TV franchise for Quad-stateregion. Shenteldoesn’tplan Protocol (VolP), a full channel line-up Shenandoah County, and offers dial- on stopping its rollout of fiber-to-the- of video including High Definition TV up and DSL Internet service in scvcral home at the Tackley Mill development. and pay-per-view, home security, and nearby markets. “We’re working on severaIother pm- Internet connectionswith the advantage Shentel will have a “head-end” pects,” said Stadler. “It’s going to be of scalable bandwidth for operation in Ranson, but customer ser- an initiative of ours going forward. telecommuters and home offices. vice will be provided through its “Fiber-to-the-home is very ‘Tackley Mill provides ex- an Edinhurg office. “It’s basically plug valuable, especially to new home buy- cellent opportunity for us to showcase and play,” said Stadler. ers, and it’s an advantage to the build- the labsbtelecom services over a supe- The issue of allowing telecom ers who can differentiate their new rior delivery platform,” said Christo- companies 10 provide cable TV ser- housing developments. The system is pher French, president of Shentel, in a vices, thereby competing with cable scalabie [to the homeowner] in the fu- press release. “Serving upscale com- companies like Comcast Inc. and ture, which is important because ad- munities like Tackley Mill promotes Adelphia Communications that have vances.in technology are 80 quick” Shentel’s strategy of continued growth franchise agreements with local gov- National homebuilders Centex and diversification. We look forward ernments, has become a political foot- Homes and Baezer Homes are building to working with Legacy and the city of ball. Proposedfederill legislation would out the Tackley development, which Ranson in creating a vibrant conmu- streamline the video franchising pro- will include 600 single-family homes nity.” . cess for phone companies that want to and40townhouses. When asked what Shentel has a history of being offer their customers telephone ser- the minimum size development would first to market in wireless communica- vice. be for Shentel to strikeadealwithother tions, having pioneered cellular scr- Telephone companies wanting developers, Stadler said, “It depends to wire fiber-to-the-home are running on the agreement; everyone is Mer- ads on TV and in print urging state ent. We work with the developerinthe legislators to allow cable competition. first phase, then with the builders.” Cable TV companies,on the other hand, - argue that changing &sting laws may CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing “Opposition to

Petition for Certificate and Petition to Intervene” in Case No. 06-0 195-T-CN was served upon the following via first class mail, postage pre-paid, this 23rd day of March, 2006.

,*-,‘I,* 3 e$?&&&/ John B. Adams

Richard Gottlieb Lewis, Glasser, Casey & Rollins, PLLC BB&T Square, Suite 700 300 Summers Street P.O. Box 1746 Charleston, WV 25326

Yaron Dori Matthew Wood Hogan & Hartson, LLP 555 Thirteenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20004

Jonathan Spencer Shentel Converged Services of WV, Inc. 500 Shentel Way P.O. Box 459 Edinburg, VA 22824