WASHINGTON-Nevada-based wireless companies owned by Mark Edwards have been shut down due to long-standing disputes between Edwards and Nevada Bell, and now he is planning to go to court-and to Congress and the Federal Communications Commission-again for some form of restitution.
Edwards’ problems with the telco began in 1979, were resolved somewhat in 1984 with a successful settlement and promise to cease, but flared up again in 1993, when he bought property to consolidate his company’s private carrier paging, voice mail, private interconnected microwave and answering service operations to Painted Rock, Nev. Most of Edwards’ customers were rural and depended on his brand of local-loop service for their communications needs. Edwards wanted all communications-services lines in the new offices to be digital, but because Nevada Bell said such facilities were not available, Edwards settled for temporary analog hookups.
In a 21-page letter to Susan Fox, who works on the Competitive Task Force attached to the FCC’s Office of the General Counsel, Edwards expressed his disappointment that new congressional and FCC statutes have not relieved what he characterizes as anti-competitive behavior by Bell operating companies, in particular Nevada Bell. He also mentioned a complaint filed with the commission in 1990 that still has not been addressed.
“I don’t have much faith in the FCC but must give them the opportunity to act,” he said.
Nevada Bell officials did not comment on the case.
In 1995, Edwards still had no digital access, and the company still had not moved. In his Oct. 23 letter to Fox, he wrote, “Despite repeated attempts to get the cable relief job completed in a timely fashion, it was not until considerable construction of major industry between Sparks [Nev.] and Painted Rock in 1995 that Nevada Bell began expanding its cable plant … After numerous due dates were discussed [with us] and extended as the dates approached, and no installation was performed, [we] threatened suit.”
The letter cites extension date upon extension date with no satisfaction, letters from Nevada Bell that Painted Rock was a “blocked” area until Dec. 31, 1999, and that Edwards’ reservations for cable pairs had been “given away” to other companies.
After another promise from Nevada Bell that all facilities would be in place by Sept. 8, 1996, Edwards moved his company into its new headquarters, but due to numerous installation problems, the company did not get digital lines until early this year. Feature Group D telephone service still has not been installed. Edwards experienced continual problems with his business and radio lines. What finally forced him to close his doors was a June 10, 1996, letter from Nevada Bell regarding rate changes for his direct-inward-dial numbers that would have increased his monthly payments 1,100 percent.
According to Edwards, he bought 10,000 numbers in consecutive order from Nevada Bell for future customer assignment and had been paying the monthly fee for them. “If you have 2,200 paging customers, there is the potential for 6,600 numbers to be used,” he explained.
When Nevada Bell proposed to up the price for these numbers, saying that customers like Edwards were hoarding such numbers, thus forcing an imminent area-code overlay, Edwards decided to fight back, saying Nevada Bell had huge blocks of numbers assigned to itself and that new area codes had been in the works for years. He got a favorable decision from the Nevada Public Service Commission, which recommended that Nevada Bell cut its rates in half, but that ruling never has been enforced.
“Nevada Bell did not have to comply. However, after a public hearing on the subject, they held a private meeting behind closed doors and decided to give all rate payers a refund, instead of just giving us one,” Edwards said.
Nevada Bell also started pressuring Edwards to pay the higher rates or his remaining services would be disconnected. Early this year, Edwards met with his agents, representatives, customers, vendors and stockholders to decide what to do next.
“[We] determined that collectively none of us would knuckle under to the threats, intimidation and frauds perpetrated by Nevada Bell and its parents,” Edwards wrote to Fox. “After almost 30 years of supposedly fair competition, many millions of dollars spent, failure of responsible agencies to enforce rules specifically enacted to prevent just this type of misconduct, and worthless guarantees in furtherance of settlement of last suits, it was decided that all Nevada operations that required interconnection would cease as of March 1, 1997 … Because no competitor offered similar or even comparable services, customers were left with no recommendation as to a replacement vendor.” No progress has been made on the case since that time, he concluded.
As of Oct. 23, Edwards continued to be in arrears with Nevada Bell for some $31,000.
All RF licenses were returned to the FCC in March, and Edwards has begun to provide other wireless services on unlicensed, spread spectrum frequencies. There are plans to sell the technology overseas.
But at this time, Edwards plans to bring suit against Nevada Bell within the next 30 days, and he has had no response from the FCC’s Fox to date. He plans to contact Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; and the Justice Department.
“This has been a deliberate attempt to do what has been specifically prohibited by law,” he told RCR.
