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The cost of phones in the forest
by Bob Kelleher, Minnesota Public Radio
August 7, 2003

How much is phone service worth to you? One of the state's major phone providers wants to charge some northeastern Minnesota home owners thousands of dollars each to hook up a phone line. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is expected to consider whether the spat over telephone service should be taken to the State Supreme Court. The PUC and telephone company, Qwest, agree the homeowners deserve service, but they haven't agreed who should pick up the multi-million dollar tab.

Tofte, Minn. — Bob Tyson says he's fed up. He wants phone service to his home on Clara Lake in the Superior National Forest. He filed a complaint against the phone company three years ago. Without phones, Tyson says, it can be impossible to call for help.

"There had been a couple of accidents," explains Tyson. "One, in fact, resulted in a death of a young person. It took about over an hour for any kind of emergency services to get up here, because, there was just no phone service up here to notify someone."

There are no phone lines to about 100 lake homes north of Tofte. Many residents are beyond cell phone service. Tyson has a cell phone -- the heavy three-watt kind called a bag phone. It's connected to an external antenna on the roof. Depending on weather, he says, it may work or it may not.

There had been a couple of accidents. One, in fact, resulted in a death of a young person. It took about over an hour for any kind of emergency services to get up here, because, there was just no phone service up here to notify someone. - Clara Lake resident Bob Tyson

What's frustrating is how close phone lines are, just down the road in Tofte.

"The phone lines I think are about eight to 12 miles from where their last line was installed," Tyson says. "And when you look at the Gunflint (Trail), for example, they have a 65-mile run up the Gunflint, and they've had phones 55 years."

Cook County Sheriff David Wirt says phones are a public safety necessity. And it's not the case of a loner, in self-imposed isolation in a cabin deep in the woods.

"What you have is small communities that are developing," Wirt says. "It's a cluster of homes. I guess I'd refer to them as the suburbs of Lutsen. So, it's becoming a community that is lacking telephone service."

A year ago, the Public Utilities Commission ordered Qwest to provide phone service to the secluded homes. Qwest serves Tofte already. The PUC said the installation should cost homeowners just $55 per home, plus a fee based on the distance to the nearest public road.

But Qwest officials said installation costs should be in the range of $35,000 per home - up to $45,000 for the most distant. Qwest did offer to install service for $3,600 per lot if 75 percent of the eligible households would agree to connect. But that was still thousands more per home than the PUC had in mind.

Qwest took the PUC to court.

At issue is who pays. Should Qwest just swallow the cost? Or should they pass it on to other Minnesota phone customers? Or should they charge the full cost to the new customers? How do you determine if this is a prudent investment for Qwest?

PUC staffer John Lindell says the Commission determined Qwest could well afford the investment, considering the small impact it would have on its statewide bottom line.

"They basically said Qwest is earning a more than fair rate of return in their opinion, and therefore additional construction costs were not appropriate in this case," says Lindell.

But Qwest attorney Jason Topp says the value of this phone extension should be based on this project alone.

"We think that when you're talking about extending facilities to an area that's not currently served, you look at this particular project," Topp says. "And the Court of Appeals agreed with that view."

Two weeks ago, the Court of Appeals told the PUC and Qwest to rework their plans. Public Utility Commissioners are expected to consider Thursday whether to go back to the drawing board with Qwest, or whether to appeal the case again, this time to the State Supreme Court.

Either way, the summer construction season is rapidly coming to a close in Minnesota's north woods. It's not likely the 100 homeowners north of Tofte will have phone service anytime before next year, if then.

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