Before the MINNESOTA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

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1 Before the MINNESOTA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION In the Matter of Virgin Mobile USA, L.P. Docket No Petition for Limited Designation as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier Virgin Mobile s Reply Comments Virgin Mobile USA, L.P. ( Virgin Mobile respectfully submits the following comments in reply to comments submitted by the Department of Commerce ( Department concerning Virgin Mobile s petition to be designated as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier ( ETC. The Department recommends (at 22 that the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission ( Commission find that Virgin Mobile has made a credible showing that its designation for the provision of Lifeline service is in the public interest and that Virgin Mobile s petition for ETC status for the limited purpose of providing Lifeline service to qualifying Minnesota customers should be approved, subject to a number of conditions. More specifically, the Department recommends the following conditions be imposed on Virgin Mobile: (a Virgin Mobile must submit a list and description of Virgin Mobile s facilities in Minnesota and their locations; (b Virgin Mobile must provide Lifeline customers with basic 911 and enhanced 911 access regardless of activation status and availability of prepaid minutes;

2 (c Virgin Mobile must provide its new Lifeline customers with E911 compliant handsets at no charge; (d Virgin Mobile must require its customers to certify at the time of service activation and annually thereafter that they are the heads of households and receive Lifeline supported services only from Virgin Mobile; (e Within 30 days of the Commission s Order conditionally approving Virgin Mobile s petition, Virgin Mobile must file an informational tariff or customer service agreement. The tariff or customer service agreement should include a detailed description of its universal service offering, any additional services which may be added to it, and the areas in Minnesota in which it is offered. The informational tariff should include the consumer protection and service quality standards to which Virgin Mobile commits. In addition, Virgin Mobile should be required to attach a copy of the CTIA standards to which it will adhere to its tariff for the purpose of public disclosure; (f Virgin Mobile should be required to notify the Commission and the Department, in writing immediately upon any change to the Lifeline offering terms, conditions, or rates, or if it seeks to withdraw its Lifeline offering or any portion thereof. Virgin Mobile must submit a revised tariff page to reflect such changes. (g Virgin Mobile must report, as do other wireless ETCs, that if it determines that it cannot reasonably serve a consumer, the unfulfilled request to the 2

3 Department and the Commission within 30 days after making such determination. (h Virgin Mobile should be required, as the Commission determined in the TracFone Order, to provide an annual report on customers whose service is cancelled due to 60 days of non-usage and should submit evidence that Virgin Mobile does not collect Universal Service Fund subsidies for those inactive phones. (i Within 30 days of the Commission s Order conditionally approving Virgin Mobile s petition, Virgin Mobile must submit a formal advertising and outreach plan listing the local and community newspapers and commercial broadcast stations in Minnesota through which it intends to advertise the availability of Lifeline service and a proposed schedule or anticipated frequency of such advertising. (j Virgin Mobile shall comply with the provisions of Minn. Stat and (k Virgin Mobile must be subject to the same process for annual customer validation for Lifeline verification as are other ETCs in Minnesota, approved by the Commission in Docket P999/M and as revised subsequently. (l Virgin Mobile is not eligible for, nor will it seek, funding from the Federal Universal Service High Cost Fund. 3

4 (m The Commission should make clear in its order, that Virgin Mobile shall assign its Lifeline Customers only numbers that are local to their residential address, with local meaning that the Virgin Mobile customer will be assigned a number assigned to the free calling area for the local telephone exchange where the customer s billing address is located. (n Within 30 days of the date of the Commission s order, Virgin Mobile should be required to make a filing demonstrating its compliance with all terms and conditions set forth above. Department Comments at Virgin Mobile hereby confirms that it has no objections to conditions (b through (i and (k through (n. With respect to condition (j, Virgin Mobile states that as it offers only prepaid service to both Lifeline and non-lifeline customers, it currently remits E911 and TAM fees on behalf of its customers, but does not collect fees from its customers. Virgin Mobile agrees that if it is designated as an ETC, it will include its Lifeline customers in the subscriber count used for the purpose of calculating these fees. Virgin Mobile believes that this process complies with the provisions of Minn. Stat and With respect to condition (a, Virgin Mobile notes that it has been designated as an ETC in 31 states without providing facilities location information. As Virgin Mobile indicated in response to earlier questions from the Department, Virgin Mobile and its parent company Sprint Nextel Corporation believe that this information is competitively sensitive and falls within the category of Critical Industry Infrastructure information under the directives and regulations of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security 4

5 ( DHS. As Virgin Mobile has previously noted, the DHS provides a process by which states can obtain that information from DHS upon the requisite showing. While Virgin Mobile does not object to providing a coverage map, it continues to believe that facilities location information should be obtained pursuant to the DHS process. CONCLUSION For the foregoing reasons, Virgin Mobile requests that its petition for certification of ETC status be granted. Respectfully submitted, BARNES & THORNBURG LLP s/laura N. Maupin Laura N. Maupin (# South Sixth Street, Suite 2800 Minneapolis, MN Tel: Laura.maupin@BTLaw.com 5