Chairman of the American Samoa TeleCommunications Authority Roy Hall Jr. and Bluesky Country Manager Lewis Wolman both confirm with Samoa News that last week they signed the long awaited interconnectivity Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Samoa News was unable to obtain a copy of the signed MOU, however a copy of the draft MOU between the parties was obtained by Samoa News and it outlines the basis of the dispute and also contains a confidentiality agreement — the apparent reason nobody is talking.

According to the draft MOU — which is between ASTCA and Bluesky Communications and its subsidiary American Samoa Entertainment, Inc d/b/a Moana TV — on September 19, 2011, the Governor of American Samoa in his capacity as the Telecommunications Regulatory Commissioner (TRC) designated Bluesky as a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) and Certified Voice Service Provider with the authority to provide all forms of telecommunications and local exchange service throughout the territory, a designation that ASTCA disputed in a filing before the American Samoa Telecommunications Regulatory Commissioner filed on January 17, 2014.

Secondly, according to the draft, on February 28, 2013, Bluesky, on the basis that it is a CLEC, requested an agreement for the transmission and routing of telephone exchange traffic, exchange access traffic, or both at any technically feasible point within the ASTCA Copper Network and the new ASTCA fiber optic network.

In answer, ASTCA claims it is a “rural telephone company” as defined under 47 U.S.C. section 153(37) and thereby exempt under section 251(f)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. (“the Act”) from providing Bluesky access to either the copper or new fiber optic networks.

The draft MOU says that Bluesky disputes that ASTCA is exempt from any of its duties under any subsection of Section 251 of the Act.

How and what type of agreement was reached between the two parties is unknown as they entered into a confidentiality agreement subject to a non-disclosure agreement executed separately from the draft MOU.

BACKGROUND

According to the draft MOU, Bluesky currently offers the only cable television services in the territory over a hybrid fiber-coaxial network, and intends to offer landline telephone services as well, whereas ASCTA is the incumbent local exchange carrier serving the territory.

The draft MOU further states that ASTCA offers services for plain old telephone (POTS) lines  and wholesale digital subscriber lines (“DSL”) over copper legacy facilities (“the ASTCA LEC Copper Network”).

ASTCA with a grant and loan awarded to them through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Services (RUS) Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) plans to replace the ASTCA LEC Copper Network with fiber-to-the-home facilities.

ASTCA’s fiber optic network is currently under construction with an expected completion date of September 30, 2015 and upon completion, ASTCA plans to offer Internet protocol or IP based voice and broadband DSL services over its network.