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to install additional conduit or pull additional fiber only after
the customer contract was entered into. Petitioners’ witnesses
credibly testified that Qwest would not have installed conduit or
pulled fiber for its own potential future use or sale without the
third-party customer contracts. The Cal Fiber project and the
Dallas-Houston Project do not cast doubt on this decision-making
approach.
In the Cal Fiber project, Qwest linked unconnected segments
of empty conduit that were previously installed and retained by
Qwest as part of the Coast Route Project. As part of the Cal
Fiber project, Qwest laid 153 new miles of conduit to complete a
fiberoptic system from Roseville, California, to Los Angeles,
California. The Coast Route project was the first project in
which Qwest simultaneously installed conduits for third-party
customers and multiple conduits for its own potential future use
or sale. As a result of the Coast Route project, Qwest obtained
several unconnected segments of empty conduit along the Coast
Route. Petitioners argue that installing conduit to connect
these segments was not a departure from Qwest’s normal business
strategy because Qwest was installing only small portions of
conduit to connect a much bigger system of conduits. The cost
was relatively modest, and Qwest took the risk because a
connected fiberoptic system could potentially have a much higher
value.
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