Opinion ID: 1677397
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Adequacy of Service Provided

Text: Diller Telephone next asserts that the PSC's finding that adequate service is not provided to the son's community of interest is not supported by competent evidence. Diller Telephone argues that the PSC's reliance on In re Application of George Farm Co., 233 Neb. 23, 443 N.W.2d 285 (1989), in this regard is misplaced and that, in any event, the case was wrongly decided. Diller Telephone is wrong on both counts. In In re Application of George Farm Co., the applicant farm corporation applied to have its property removed from Northeast Nebraska Telephone Company's service area and placed within Northwestern Bell Telephone Company's service area. Three residences were located on the corporation's property, which was divided approximately in half by the boundary line separating the two telephone companies. The president of the corporation and an employee lived in houses located within one-fourth of a mile of Northwestern Bell's boundary line, but were served by Northeast Nebraska Telephone. A trailer home on the property was served by Northwestern Bell. The corporation did virtually all of its business within Northwestern Bell's service area, and its business and social contacts were in Northwestern Bell's service area as well. Because the applicant subscribed to a flat-rate foreign-exchange service, it was not charged for long-distance calls made to Northwestern Bell's service area. Based on the corporation president's statement that the existing telephone service was `okay,' id. at 25, 443 N.W.2d at 287, the PSC denied the application. On appeal, we reversed and ordered that the service be changed as the corporation requested. We reasoned that it made no sense for half of the farm property to be within one exchange and the other half to be within another. We also concluded that forcing the corporation to bear the burden of paying for two telephone services for the same property so that the occupants might have adequate service to the general area constituting their community of interest was arbitrary and unreasonable. The order appealed was thus arbitrary and capricious. Diller Telephone argues first that the In re Application of George Farm Co. record did not support our conclusion that the farm corporation was forced to pay for two telephone services for the same property; rather, that was a choice made by the corporation in order to avoid long-distance toll charges. It also urges that because the foreign-exchange charge was essentially a discounted monthly toll charge for long-distance calls, the PSC could not have considered the service inadequate. However, the overriding consideration was that because the farm corporation's property was served by two telephone companies, the corporation could obtain adequate service to its community of interest only by paying for foreign-exchange service. Yet, the corporation's only contact with Northeast Nebraska Telephone was the fact that part of the corporation's property fell within Northeast Nebraska Telephone's service area. Thus, the entire record demonstrated that the denial of the corporation's request was arbitrary and capricious. Nonetheless, Diller Telephone argues that In re Application of George Farm Co. is not applicable to the case at hand because, whereas in In re Application of George Farm Co., a single party owned one continuous piece of property bisected by two telephone companies, here there are two pieces of property separated by a mile of ground or road. But what makes In re Application of George Farm Co. applicable is the fact that both properties involved here are owned by the same individual, the father, and constitute but a single farm operation. Both the father and son testified to the recurring problems caused by having to deal with two telephone companies. The impact of multiple telephone service is the same whether a farm operation is conducted on one piece of land or on two nearby pieces. The important consideration is that the Jantzens can obtain adequate service to their community of interest only by having both parts of their operation serviced by one telephone company.