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June 28, 2004
David Morris, (907) 265-5396 or dmorris@gci.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RCA ISSUES ORDER SETTING UNE AND WHOLESALE RATES IN ANCHORAGE
ANCHORAGE, AK -- The Regulatory Commission of
Alaska (RCA) issued an order setting prices for GCI's lease of
Alaska Communications Systems' (ACS) lines for local telephone
competition in Anchorage. Although the RCA's ruling set rates for
numerous elements of ACS' network, the most significant is the
lease rate for local lines.
The order increases the lease rate
from $14.92 to $19.15 per line per month. In setting this rate, the
RCA ruled on a variety of factors such as depreciation, cost of
capital, cost of the network, maintenance and administrative
overhead. GCI estimates today's ruling will increase its cost to
provide competitive telephone service in Anchorage by approximately
$265,000 per month.
GCI is analyzing today's ruling and
has not determined whether it will appeal.
"Given the increased costs contained
in today's order, the rate-of-return to deploy GCI's own network
will be substantially increased," said Dana Tindall, GCI senior
vice president of regulatory and legal affairs. "This creates
incentive, which we are currently evaluating, for us to accelerate
the deployment of our digital local telephone service."
In other company news, Jerry
Edgerton has joined the GCI board of directors. Mr. Edgerton is the
senior vice president of government markets with MCI.
GCI (NASDAQ: GNCMA) is an
Alaska-based integrated communication provider that delivers voice,
video and data services through its fiber optic, satellite, hybrid
fiber coaxial and metropolitan area networks. More information
about GCI can be found at www.gci.com.
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