The Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission announced today that it will open an investigation into the CenturyLink voice and data service outage that affected the San Juan Islands for 10 days.

“I am extremely pleased that the Utilities and Transportation Commission will do a formal investigation on the CenturyLink outage, as it will allow us to understand exactly the cause and response to this crisis,” state Senator Kevin Ranker said.

The commission is the state agency in charge of regulating the rates and services of telephone companies operating in Washington, as well as promoting a competitive telecommunications marketplace.

It is the commission’s responsibility to ensure regulated companies provide safe and reliable service to customers at reasonable rates, while allowing them the opportunity to earn a fair profit.

The commission does not regulate the rates of broadband services, cellular, cable or Internet service.

“We recognize this outage caused serious disruption and inconvenience to the people of the San Juan Islands,” said David Danner, UTC Chairman. “Our investigation will look into the cause of the outage, the company’s emergency preparedness and response, restoration efforts, and communication with the public.”