TDS Telecom companies requesting rate increase

Customers of TDS Telecom’s six Maine telephone companies may see a small increase in their monthly telephone bills in June.

The increase is sought by the six individual companies owned by Madison, Wis.-based TDS Telecom, which serve the communities of Corinna, Hampden, Hartland and Warren, and the islands of Swan’s Island, Isle au Haut, Matinicus and Frenchboro. The actual increases vary from one independently operated TDS company to another, depending on which services and equipment TDS customers make use of.

Hampden Telephone Co. customers, for example, could see an increase of $2.50 per month for their basic telephone service as well as more modest increases in some specialty services such as nonpublished numbers and wiring protection plans. Customers of the Island Telephone Co., however, will not see an increase in their monthly rate but could see slight increases in their specialty services.

Phil Lindley, spokesman for the Maine Public Utilities Commission, said Wednesday that TDS Telecom filed for the increase in late 2000. The rate case, as the filing is known, is the result of a 1997 change in federal law which lowered the fee long-distance telephone companies have to pay in-state telephone companies for access to homes.

Those access fees, Lindley said, account for much of the income that in-state companies such as TDS Telecom make. As a result, he said, the in-state companies are allowed to petition the Maine PUC to increase the basic monthly fee charged to their customers in order to make up some of the lost revenue.