Mississippi PSC's Presley Subpoenas AT&T on CAF Spending
Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley subpoenaed AT&T Thursday for information on what happened with more than $283 million in Connect America Fund support to expand broadband to 133,000 Mississippi locations. “I want to know very simply how many of these…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
customers have in fact signed up,” but AT&T refused to say when Presley asked last week, he said Thursday in a news conference livestreamed on Facebook. Presley, who is NARUC president, also asked the company for data on customer complaints and how many consumers in areas advertised as covered couldn’t get service. "AT&T is in full compliance with the federal requirements" in CAF and "state and federal laws regarding federal USF program monies, and we will respond to any lawful request for information," a spokesperson said. "In Mississippi as part of our participation in Phase II of the CAF program, we are confident that we will exceed the final deployment goal of providing high-speed access to 133,000 rural Mississippi locations by the end of this year." Earlier this week, Presley said he will hold up Frontier Communications’ bankruptcy reorganization until that telco improves service (see 2009090055).