By Alabama Public Radio
Baldwin County, AL – The Alabama Public Service Commission has approved the depreciation of about two million dollars in expenditures by GulfTel Communications because of damages from Hurricane Ivan. That allows the company to make repairs without raising rates. The PSC says construction costs will be treated as a one-time adjustment to depreciation expense. That adjustment will let GulfTel pay for repairing outside plant facilities, network switching and supporting equipment without imposing customer surcharges or increasing subscriber rates. The company has been serving Baldwin County since 1929. It now serves about 60-thousand phone lines.