USVI Public Records

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GOVERNMENT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS OF THE UNITED STATES PUBLIC SERVICES COMMISSION ) PETITION OF VITELCOM CELLULAR, INC. ) FOR DESIGNATION AS AN ) Docket No. 664 ELIGIBLE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIER ) ~ LIFELINE ONLY ) Order No. 55/2017 ) ORDER WHEREAS, on April 11, 2017, Vitelcom Cellular, Inc. (“Vitelcom”) filed a Petition with the Virgin Islands Public Services Commission (“PSC” or “Commission”) for Designation as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (“ETC”) throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands (“Petition”). Vitelcom requested ETC designation only for the purpose of participation in the federal low income (“Lifeline”) program. The Company does not seek support under any of the universal service fund (“USF”) high-cost programs; and WHEREAS, PSC Staff immediately undertook its review of the Petition and sent discovery questions to Vitelcom on April 21, 2017. Vitelcom provided a timely response on May 5, 2017; and WHEREAS, Vitelcom Cellular, Inc. is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of ATN International, Inc. ("ATN"), a publicly-held company headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts. Vitelcom was acquired by ATN in July of 2016 as part of its acquisition of Caribbean Asset Holdings LLC, the immediate parent of VITELCO, Vitelcom, and several other companies operating in the U.S.V.I. Vitelcom says it has been providing Commercial Mobile Radio Service ("CMRS", commonly referred to as cellular) to the public in the U. S. Virgin Islands for over a decade through a GSM-UMTS based network consisting of 23 cell sites. Since ATN's acquisition, Vitelcom reports it has been integrating its network with that of sister company Choice Communications, LLC (“Choice”) and, simultaneously, is upgrading the combined network into a state-of-the-art GSM-LTE network. Upon completion of the integration project, Vitelcom states it will migrate all of Choice’s remaining cellular customers, including its Lifeline customers, onto the combined and upgraded network; and WHEREAS, the Vitelcom Lifeline plan will include 500 minutes of voice and mobile broadband service per month with 500MB of data, unlimited texts, and Caller ID, Call Forwarding and Directory Assistance. The monthly allowance of SOOMB of data per month will increase to 2GB of data per month by December 1, 2018 as required by the FCC's Lifeline Rules. The Company will accept the FCC’s Lifeline subsidy of $9.25 per month as full payment for the Lifeline plan but reserves the right to reevaluate that position as FCC requirements evolve. Similarly, the Lifeline plan initially includes a free handset but the Company says it may have to charge for smartphones in the future as FCC requirements change. Lifeline customers may use their services off-network in the U.S. mainland but will be charged 10¢ per minute or megabyte under current rates. Lifeline customers may access unlimited Internet using their handsets at public WiFi hot spots without charge.