The testing of the operational support systems (OSS) for Qwest Communications International Inc. (www.qwest.com) moved forward this week with the completion of the audit of the wholesale performance measures. A previous delay in setting up these measures forced Qwest earlier this year to put off beginning the nation's first-ever regionwide OSS testing collaborative. But the process now has begun.
The auditor, Liberty Consulting Group (www.libertyconsultinggroup.com), has determined that the performance measures "accurately and reliably" report Qwest's actual performance.
Liberty also made several recommendations concerning monitoring the measures in the future, according to sources. Those suggestions will be passed on to the Qwest Regional Oversight Committee's (ROC) OSS Collaborative (www.nrri.ohio-state.edu/oss.htm), which was established by 13 of the 14 states served by Qwest. The ROC is conducting an open, web-based process that provides a forum for interested parties to resolve issues related to the Qwest OSS testing.
In the beginning of the year, the OSS testing was delayed regionwide, forcing Qwest to set a new goal on providing long-distance in its area.
Qwest, which merged with US West Inc. in 2000, planned on getting back into the long-distance market in at least one of the states in its region this summer. But the new goal is to enter at least one state by the end of the year, and then be approved to enter all 14 states by year-end 2002.
States involved in the project are: Montana, Idaho, Utah, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Iowa and Nebraska. Arizona, the other Qwest state, is conducting its own OSS testing process.
The OSS testing will determine if Qwest's network is open to local phone competitors, satisfying the 14-point competitive checklist under Section 271 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Of the 14 items on the checklist, seven are pretty much directly related to the OSS test.
The ROC signed off on the Qwest master test plan last November, setting out the major testing activities and providing a detailed explanation of the testing process. KPMG Consulting (www.us.kpmg.com), the independent, third-party OSS tester, drafted the master test plan after the state commissions, Qwest, and CLECs agreed to the final draft with minor revisions last November.
At the same time the audit was being conducted this year, KPMG and Hewlett-Packard (www.hp.com) began conducting tests of the performance of Qwest's OSS.
The performance measures provide quantitative indicators of Qwest's performance in various areas such as ordering new installations and responding to trouble reports. They are used to help determine whether the company is providing satisfactory service and has opened its systems to competitors.
Qwest must demonstrate that its systems are open in order to receive approval from the FCC (www.fcc.gov) to enter the long-distance market.
"The audit of performance measures by an independent expert is another unique feature of the multi-state collaborative," said Montana Public Service Commissioner (www.psc.state.mt.us) Bob Rowe, chairman of ROC's executive committee. "It is designed to give us, and especially competitors who use the OSS systems, greater confidence that results are in fact as they are reported, and that the wholesale services competitors receive from Qwest are in fact comparable to the retail services Qwest provides its other customers."
The audit's objectives were to:
1.) Validate that Qwest's measurement of performance is in the manner prescribed by the company's documentation and is reliable.
2.) Compare and assess retail and wholesale operations processes in areas material to serving CLECs.
3.) Verify that, where required, comparable wholesale and retail processes will provide service at parity.
