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1 TELECOMMUNICATIONS advantage net working July 31, 2006 Ms. Sandra Squire Executive Secretary Public Service Commission 201 Brooks Street Charleston, WV Dear Ms. Squire: Re: Case No T-GI General Investigation Regarding Certification of Federal Universal Service Funding for Eligible Telecommunications Carriers in West Virginia Enclosed are an original and thirteen copies of the Competitive Eligible Telecommunications Carrier division of Hardy Telecommunications, Inc. filing for the above-referenced case. Please return one copy to me acknowledging that you received it by August 1, If you have any questions or need additional information, please call me at (304) or me at mmonaold@i?hardvnet.com. Sincerely, J Mary G. Mongold Ass is t a n t Genera I Manager Enclosures 2255 Kirnsevs Run Road. Lost River, WV Voice: Fax Httn.l/www Harhnot pnm

2 TELECOMMUNICATIONS advantage net working July 31, 2006 I I Ms. Sandra Squire Executive Secretary Public Service Commission of WV 201 Brooks Street Charleston, WV Re: Case No T-GI General Investigation Regarding Certification of Federal Universal Service Funding for Eligible Telecommunications Carriers in West Virginia Dear Ms. Squire: Enclosed please find the Verification of Dwight E. Welch, CEO and General Manager of the Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) branch of Hardy Telecommunications, Inc., (the "Company"), an eligible telecommunications carrier. This verification is required for the Public Service Commission of West Virginia to certify to the Federal Communications Commission and to the Universal Service Administrative Company that the Company is eligible to continue to receive federal high cost support for the entire calendar year Also enclosed is the response for the additional informational requirements noted by the Commission in its July 25, 2006 decision in this proceeding on page 5, Ordering Clause No. 3. As indicated on the attached, should the Commission need additional information, the Company is willing to work with the Commission to address such requests. HARUYNET-CF 2255 Kimseys Run Road Lost River, WV Voice: Fax Httn.//www Hsrdmnt pnm

3 Ms. Sandra Squire Executive Secretary Public Service Commission of West Virginia July 31, 2006 Page 2 Hardy Telecommunications, Inc. (CLEC), for these reasons, respectfully requests that the Commission afford this request for certification pursuant to of the FCC s rules and regulations. Sincerely, Mary G. Mongold Assistant Manager Enclosures

4 PUBLIC SERVICE CONliMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA CHARLESTON GENERAL INVESTIGATION REGARDING CERTIFICATION OF FEDERAL UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUNDING FOR ELIGIBLE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS IN WEST VIRGINIA Case No T-GI VERIFICATION I, Dwight E. Welch, depose and state: 1. I am CEO/General Manager of the CLEC division of Hardy Telecommunications, Inc. (the Company ). My business address is 2255 Kimseys Run Road, Lost River, WV In response to the Commission Order issued on July 25,2006, in the above-captioned matter (the Order ), the Company hereby verifies that it uses universal support only for the provision, maintenance and upgrading of facilities and services for which the support is intended, consistent with Section 254(e) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. 3. The Company has also submitted the applicable additional information required on pages 5-6 of the Order for this Verification.

5 4. The undersigned hereby certifies that the information provided by the Company and this Verification are true and accurate to the best of my information and belief.,? NOTARY CERTIFICATION State of WEST VIRGINIA, county of Hardy TO WIT: On July 31, 2006, before me, a Notary Public of such State and County, appeared Dwight E. Welch, who is the individual who executed this Verification. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 3 1 day of July, My Commission

6 Attachment Hardy Telecommunications, Inc. (CLEC Division) Additional Information Required by Commission Order, Case No T-G1, issued July 25,2006 Page 1 of 5 This additional information is submitted by Hardy Telecommunications, Inc. (the Competitive Eligible Telecommunications Carrier division) (the Company ) in response to the Commission Order issued on July 25,2006 in Case No T-GI (the July 25 Order ) by the Public Service Commission of West Virginia (the Commission ). In the July 25 Order, the Commission directed that the Company, which is a Competitive Eligible Telecommunications Carrier ( CETC ) within portions of its West Virginia certificated service area, to file on or before August 1,2006 the information contained herein. Based on the Company s reading of the July 25 Order, it appears that the Commission will utilize the following information as part of its review and certification required by Section 254(e) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the Act ). Accordingly, the Company requests that the Commission, pursuant to 47 C..F.R. $ , certify to both the Federal Communications Commission nnd the Universal Service Administrative that the Company is eligible to receive federal high cost support throughout the entirety of calendar year In the July 25th Order, the Commission listed eight (8) additional information requirements that it would require of each ETC like the Company. That information is provided below. The Company has, in good faith, attempted to be responsive to each of the Commission requirements included in the July 25th Order. Should requests for additional information be made by the Commission, the Company is willing to work with the Commission to address such requests. A. Network Plans, Map, and USF Amounts. The Company has not submitted previously a five-year service quality improvement plan. See July 25th Order at 5 (Ordering Clause No. 3, Subsection 1). As the Commission s records will attest, the Company has exemplary service and has been providing service through its facilities for over the past three years. The interstate Universal Service Fund ( USF ) disbursements also have been an integral component of the Company s overall rate design, allowing its rates to its customers to remain at reasonable, affordable and reasonably comparable levels. As such, USF disbursements are not earmarked for any specific infrastructure provision, maintenance or upgrading project. However, the Company can reasonably anticipate that its overall deployment and upgrading of its network would be curtailed where the continuity of proper levels of USF disbursements are not assured. This result is, in the Company s view, reasonable. Attachment

7 Attachment Hardy Telecommunications, Inc. (CLEC Division) Additional Information Required by Commission Order, Case No T-G1, issued July 25,2006 Page 2 of 5 Absent assurance of proper and adequate USF disbursement levels to the Company, the resulting recovery burden placed on local end users, all other things being equal, would result in unaffordable, unreasonable and non-reasonably comparable rates. Thus, the federal USF disbursements received by the Company has permitted it to continue to make the necessary investments for the provision and upgrading of facilities (as well as maintenance of them) in order to make available competitive service alternatives and improvements to its services, including deployment of network elements such as copper loop, fiber optic transport facilities, switching facilities, software platform upgrades, and the maintenance of them, Based on its current practice, the Company s planning horizon for its capital expenditures is two years. In light of this practice and in an effort to respond in good faith to the July 25th Order s requirements, the Company provides the following information based on actual 2005 expenditures and anticipated end of year balances over its current planning horizon through yearend The Company provides its good faith estimate for capital expenditures and maintenance for the three-year period outside of the iiormal planning horizon that the Company utilizes. The summary is provided as Appendix 1, hereto. Since the time that the Company has provided competitive local exchange service, it has routinely engaged in network deployment, upgrades and maintenance of its network. Calendar year 2006 continues that effort. For example, the Company s plans include deploying the necessary remote switching facilities within its CETC service area. The projected start date and completion date for the c.urrent year major construction projects (along with a good faith estimate of the number of Company end users benefiting from such projects) is provided in Appendix 2, hereto. In the Company s estimation, these efforts (along with it maintaining its ongoing network and in-year construction of local loop plant) amply meet its on-going network improvement targets (id.), which are ongoing and are anticipated to be achieved within the planning period. With respect to coverage maps, it appears from the July 25th Order that the underlying need for this information arose from the designation of a new wireless ETC rather than an existing facilities-based rural local exchange carrier like the Company. As the Commission is aware, the Company provides service upon reasonable request to all end users physically located within its CETC service area. In light of this service availability commitment, the Company provides the attached map of the Company s service area as Appendix 3, which highlights those areas where service is generally available within its CETC designated area. To the extent that facilities-based service from the Company is not available to a customer requesting service, the Company will provide service via resale of the underlying service offered by the Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier ( ILEC ).

8 Attachment Hardy Telecommunications, Inc. (CLEC Division) Additional Information Required by Commission Order, Case No T-G1, issued July 25,2006 Page 3 of 5 During calendar year 2005, the Company received $8 1,290 in federal USF associated with Interstate Access Support and High Cost Loop Support. The Company receives its federal USF at the same per-line level that is established through the application of explicit rules and procedures applicable to the ILEC that is operating within the geographic area for which the Company has been designated a CETC. The Company operates one exchange/wire center within such area which is the Moorefield exchange. B. Network Service Outages. In the July 25th Order, the Commission requested that the Company provide for the most recent calendar year, detailed information on any outage lasting at least 30 minutes, for any service area in which an ETC is designated for any facilities it owns, operates, leases, or otherwise utilizes that potentially affect at least ten percent of the end users served in a designated service area, or that potentially affect a 91 1 special facility (as defined in subsection (e) of section 4.5 of the Outage Reporting Order). Id. at 5 (Ordering Clause No. 3, subsection 2.) There were no outages lasting at least 30 minutes nor were there any outages that would affect a special facility. C. Unfilled Request for Services The Company has not received any requests for service that went unfilled during calendar year Those customers the Company could not serve over its own facilities were served through resale. D. Number of Complaints per 1000 lines The Company s access line count was below 1000 during calendar year 2005 although the Company s access line count continued to increase. The following reports the Company s complaints as if the Company was operating at least 1000 lines in each month. Accordingly, to the best of my information and belief, the Company would have received one complaint per 1000 lines.

9 Attachment Hardy Telecommunications, Inc. (CLEC Division) Additional Information Required by Commission Order, Case No T-GI, issued July 25,2006 E. Service Quality Certification Page 4 of 5 I hereby certify that, to the best of my information and belief, the Company is complying with applicable service quality standards and consumer protection rules set forth by the Commission within its rules and regulations. F. Emergency Functionality Certification I hereby certify that, to the best of my information and belief, the Company is able to continue to operate its network during emergency situations through sufficient battery powedgenerator back-up. A description of the Company s current network emergency power back-up capability is provided in Appendix 4, hereto. G. Local Usage Plan Certification I hereby certify that, to the best of my information and belief, the Company offers a local usage plan comparable to that offered by the ILEC that operates in the Company s CETC service area. The Company offers its local service usage plans pursuant to Commission policies including those implemented through the Winfield plan. The Company s local service usage plans are each on file with the Commission in the Company s local service tariff. H. Equal Access Certification The Company provides equal access to long distance carriers in compliance with Commission requirements. The Company acknowledges that the Commission may continue to require it to provide equal access to long distance carriers in the event that no other eligible telecommunications carrier is providing equal access within the service area.

10 Attachment Hardy Telecommunications, Inc. (CLEC Division) Additional Information Required by Commission Order, Case No T-G1, issued July 25,2006 Page 5 of 5 CERTIFICATION I, Dwight E. Welch, CEO and General Manager of Hardy Telecommunications, Inc. (the Competitive Eligible Telecommunications Carrier division) (the Company ), do hereby declare under penalties of perjury that I have read the foregoing and the information contained therein regarding the Company is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief.

11 Appendix 1 Network Capital Expenditure and Maintenance Levels Capital Expenditure Category Land, Bldgs, Office Equip, etc.) Central Office Equipment Outside Plant Maintenance Year Year Year Year Year Year (Actual) $15,000 $28,000 $32,000 $35,000 $39,000 $2,3 10 $88,996 $89,895 $90,885 $91,974 $93,171 $395,732 $326,610 $359,271 $200,120 $195,750 $195,800 $1 65,139 $138,830 $152,7 13 $167,984 $184,783 $206, The Company s current planning horizon for network upgrades is through the end of year Based on its last five years of operations, the Company has provided what it anticipates to be its Capital Expenditure levels for each of the years for which budgets have not yet been produced. 21 The Company bases its Maintenance expense level on the same last three years of its operations. The Company submits that this approach reflects a reasonable estimate of expense levels based on its historical operations.

12 Appendix 2 Current Year Major Construction Projects Estimated Estimated Estimated Number of Start Completion Affected Affected Date Date End Users Wire Center Description 04/ Moorefield Deployment of Concentrator Remote 0 7/ Moorefield Deployment of Concentrator Remote

13 Appendix 3 CETC Service Area Map (Enclosed)

14 Appendix 4 Emergency Operations Capability The Company provides the following information regarding is central office back-up battery and generator capability during electricity failures within its operating areas. The Company has deployed battery back-up power in its central office that will produce an estimated twenty (20) hours of back-up power for the Company s central office. The initiation of the Company s battery back-up capability is triggered instantaneously of the network identifying the existence of a loss of power. The Company has also purchased a back-up natural gas generator that is available at its central office should it be necessary. The generator would provide 152 hours of back-up power capability. Since the availability of fuel at the location is not an issue, the generator would provide sufficient power absent some unforeseen breakdown of it. Based on current contingency preparation plans, the Company estimates that the necessary generator-provided back-up power capability can be deployed and functioning within a minute of the identification of its need, well within the time frame of the estimated battery power back-up capability possessed by the Company. In addition, the Company has two portable generators that can be moved to the necessary site(s). The following is a listing of remotes with the appropriate back-up battery r - capability: Remote Name Battery Run Time Cold Sming; 75 hours Hardy County Courthouse 16 hours Harness 80 hours 1 Old River Road 800 hours Absent catastrophic failure of the network or elements of it, the Company has the capability to engage in some rerouting of traffic based on what facilities are damaged. While the Company has engineered its network based on accepted industry engineering practices, changing call routing may, to some extent, permit the Company to manage traffic patterns throughout its network during emergency situations.