[February 05, 2010] nTelos resists Va. bill Tweet Feb 05, 2010 (The News Virginian - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Officials at Waynesboro-based nTelos say a state House bill would cost the telecommunications company $16 million a year in revenues it collects from long-distance carriers using the nTelos network to complete calls. The legislation, introduced by Del. William Janis, R-Glen Allen, is now in the House Committee on Commerce and Labor. Janis, who could not be reached for comment on Thursday, has received contributions in the past two years totaling $7,750 from long-distance providers Verizon, Sprint-Nextel and T-Mobile, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. The bill would reduce the rates long-distance companies pay nTelos and other local phone companies for outgoing and incoming calls on the local companies' networks. nTelos officials say the issue Janis is raising should be handled by the State Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities. "The long-distance companies think they are paying too much, but instead of going to the SCC they are trying to make an end run and have the legislature lower their rate,'' said Mary McDermott, nTelos senior vice president for legal and regulatory affairs. If the bill passes, nTelos officials say, the company could be forced to lay off employees, cut its capital improvements and reject an $8-million federal stimulus grant the company received last month to establish a broadband fiber-optic network to homes, businesses and community institutions in rural parts of Alleghany County. McDermott said the stimulus grant requires an $8-million match by nTelos. In addition to the 40 jobs the installation of broadband would create, McDermott said the technology would contribute numerous other permanent jobs to Alleghany County. "I don't know if Del. Janis understands the rural nature of Virginia and Alleghany County,'' McDermott said. The broadband project would reach 4,000 Alleghany County homes, 230 business locations, schools, libraries, fire and rescue and Dabney Lancaster Community College, McDermott said. Alleghany County had a 9.7-percent unemployment rate in December. Virginia's unemployment rate that month was 6.7 percent. Janis' introduction of the legislation last month has already sparked comment from other legislators, including House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, D-Martinsville, and Del. Don Merricks, D-Pittsylvania, a colleague of Janis' on the House Committee on Commerce and Labor. In an opinion piece the two delegates authored on the Virginia Access Forum, they said the revenue local telephone companies receive from long-distance carriers "helps maintain local networks, allows for investments in essential services such as broadband and keeps rates affordable for both urban and rural customers." Armstrong and Merricks said the bill "could result in increased rates, hundreds of job losses, put additional network investment at risk and hamper local economic development." To see more of The News Virginian or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsvirginian.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The News Virginian, Waynesboro, Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]