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Yesterday evening we promised to tell you what the PUC had decided in the dispute between BTL and Smart but we had to change that at the last minute because the PUC made a last minute change.

Initially the PUC decision had been stalled because smart did not submit its agreements for review as it has been ordered to do by the PUC. But rather than wait around for those agreements, the PUC decided to issue a directive which went out this morning. The directive orders both BTL and Smart to negotiate a new agreement for the use of the E-1 internet access service which Smart was using to send its long distance calls.

That re-negotiated agreement must be made on a cost basis since the PUC has determined that the service as it was being provided was not on a coast basis. Now that’s bad news for smart because if it wasn’t on a cost basis - that means it was being sold too cheaply; it was being sold below cost.

The 2 sides have until December 23rd to come up with the new agreement and if they don’t the PUC will intervene and craft its own agreement for Smart use of BTL’s E-1 service. Smart has independently of BTL restored its international call services.