MTA: State Has No Jurisdiction Over Rural Wireless Service

PALMER — Alaska state regulators do not have the authority to investigate whether or not the Matanuska Telephone Association (MTA) can or should discontinue a service provided for residents of a rural part of the Borough, according to a letter submitted by MTA to the Federal Communications Commission Monday.

At issue is the rural Fixed Wireless service at one time provided to several hundred customers in a 2,000 square mile region with no road system shared by the Denali Borough. MTA wants to end the service, officially known as the Basic Exchange Telecommunications Radio Service (BETRS), because it’s “beginning to show signs of failure,” and MTA is looking to shutter the rest of its wireless business.

About 38 customers are currently using the service, down from over 200 late last year. MTA had previously offered $400 to customers who agreed to discontinue using the program.

MTA in December asked the FCC to give them the OK to end the service required by federal regulation. But after a series of public comments against approval were filed with the FCC, Alaska’s Regulatory Commission (ARC) requested that the FCC delay a decision until they could investigate the issue.

While ARC that body does not have regulatory oversight of MTA, the association operates under the state’s authority through a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and as a Local Exchange Carrier of Last Resort.

But MTA believes the state does not have the authority to request that delay, an attorney representing MTA said in a letter this week. Instead, their request to do is “odd” and “inappropriate.”

“MTA’s application is a matter of federal jurisdiction and beyond the boundaries of the state commission,” the letter, signed by Shannon Heim, states. “What motivation could there be for carriers to serve the best interests of their customers if those actions can be called into question and the discontinuation of a handful of customers stopped by a baseless letter by a state commission?”

MTA’s December application to eliminate BETRS by this summer noted a series of alternate options, including satellite phone service and a cell phone booster or “repeater.” But some residents who use BETRS said that those options work inconsistently or not at all. They said eliminating the program with no replacement poses a safety hazard.

Accompanying the new FCC letter was a sworn affidavit from MTA wireless technician Clint Spencer detailing those options, why they will work and his communication with a pair customers, including Mike Williams, a vocal opponent of ending the service. BETRS provides communications service for Williams’ rural peony farm, EagleSong Alaska.

“We’ve discussed the parameters of the technical solution, and I have offered to assist in the installation process to assist Mr. Williams’ transition from BETRS,” the affidavit states.

Williams refuted Spencer’s claim.

“In my case specifically Mr. Spencer stated a powered repeater ‘may’ work for me, but it would have to be purchased and installed to confirm suitability,” Williams said in an email to the Frontiersman. “He never offered assistance in the installation process. That is a false statement. It should also be noted that Mr. Spencer never initiated any conversation. He simply responded to my inquiries.”

The RCA had been scheduled to decide whether or not to go forward with an investigation during a March 28 public meeting at their Anchorage office. However, because only a few of the panel’s five members were in attendance, that meeting was instead continued to Wednesday, April 4 at 10 a.m.