Court Opinion

ID: 9731269
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:40:45.444418+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:16.700629
License: Public Domain

PELLEGRINI, Judge,
dissenting.
I dissent. I do not believe that WTG’s proposed point-to-point offering of dedicated lines to resellers, large commercial users,1 interexchange carriers and governmental entities is providing telecommunication service “for the public” within the meaning of 66 Pa.C.S. § 102.2
*55WTG-East and WTG-Central are subdivisions of Williams Telecommunications, Inc. (WTG). WTG made an application to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to provide lines from its point of presence (POP) in Philadelphia to or from its POP in Pittsburgh. A POP is where a call can enter or leave a telephone system, i.e., the system that provides dial tone service to each customer so he can receive the transmission no matter where it originates or over whose “long” distance or “inter systems transfer lines” the call is transported. (PUC Order, p. 11.)
In Findings of Fact Nos. 5 and 6 regarding WTG’s application, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission found the following (PUC Order, p. 12):
5. Applicants currently provide “point-to-point” or “private line” interstate telecommunications service to their customers. Both voice and data communications are transmitted over the WTG systems. “Private line” service is the term used to describe service through a dedicated link or line reserved only for one customer as opposed to the traditional switched service where lines are not dedicated but used to transport calls for any customer as needed. From a practical point of view, because private line service involves assignment of a line to a customer, only entities which send or receive a large volume of communications between two specific points will find the service attractive economically. Generally, the customers who subscribe to private line service are resellers, certificated interexchange carriers, governmental entities and commercial entities. These are also WTG's typical customers on an interstate basis.
*566. All of the major certificated interexchange carriers provide private line service along with switched service pursuant to tariffs on file with the Commission. Unlike most of the other major certificated interexchange carriers, WTG provides only private line service and does not provide switched service. Because private line service, in general, is frequently provided to other telecommunications carriers, the designated lines are used to transmit calls for all types of residential and business telephone service through integration with the switched service system____ (Emphasis added.)
(PUC Order, p. 12.)
WTG’s offering of leased lines primarily to resellers does not qualify as providing telecommunication services “for the public.”
“The public or private character of the enterprise does not depend ... upon the number of persons by whom it is used, but upon whether it is open to the use and service of all members of the public who may require it.” Drexelbrook Associates v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 418 Pa. 430, 435, 212 A.2d 237, 239 (1965). Whether a service is designed or constructed for the public is whether the service is designed or constructed for particular groups or whether it is being used by all segments of the public. Borough of Ambridge v. Public Service Commission of Pennsylvania, 108 Pa.Superior Ct. 298, 165 A. 47 (1933). To determine if a service is not being provided “for the public” but rather for private interests, the examination to be focused upon is how the service is operated. Aronimink Transp. Co. v. Public Service Commission, 111 Pa.Superior Ct. 414, 170 A. 375 (1934).
The PUC’s own findings make it clear that WTG’s proposed offering is to business entities who are primarily engaged in the business of reselling telecommunication services. When the General Assembly used the term “for the public”, it did not intend that entrepreneurs engaging in competition with each other for business and with the ability to obtain lines from a number of other suppliers *57were within the ambit of that phrase, nor did it envision that they needed protection afforded under the public utility laws. If anyone serves “the public,” it is the resellers of these services who, in effect, lease lines at “wholesale” from WTG, then use that line to provide a “retail” service for the public.3
Accordingly, I would reverse the order of the PUC.

. Some of the commercial users are "aggregators." An aggregator is a commercial entity, typically a hospital, university, hotel or motel, which has telephones routinely available for transient users — their customers, patrons or other general public. (PUC Order, entered June 19, 1990, pp. 11-20).

. The definition of a "public utility” contained in 66 Pa.C.S. § 102 provides in relevant part:
"Public Utility.”
*55(1) Any person or corporation now or hereafter owning or operating in this Commonwealth equipment of facilities for: ******
(vi) Conveying or transmitting messages or communications by telephone or telegraph or domestic public land mobile radio service including, but not limited to, point-to-point microwave radio service for the public for compensation. (Emphasis added.)

. Resellers to the public are not considered "public utilities.” In its order, the PUC held:
Accordingly, for the first time, we will declare our jurisdictional limits over telephone carriers as established by Section 102 to include only those entities which hold legal title to line, wire or cable utilized to transmit messages from an origin point to a destination point; thus placing resellers outside of our jurisdiction. (Emphasis added.)
(PUC Order, p. 8.)