ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 27, 1996 TAG: 9606270049
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on June 28, 1996.
A story in Thursday's business section incorrectly stated that Bell
Atlantic had to comply with certain federal business in AT&T's service
area. The conditions apply to Bell Atlantic getting into long-distance
phone business in Bell Atlantic's own local service area.
THE PHONE CALLS WON'T happen for a while, but already the hot words are flying - between AT&T and Bell Atlantic.
Virginia's State Corporation Commission after a hearing in Richmond on Wednesday granted AT&T permission to offer local phone service in Virginia, putting it into competition with Bell Atlantic Corp. and local companies.
AT&T, best known as a national long-distance provider, joins four other companies that have been granted SCC permission to compete in local markets. Three other potential competitors, including a subsidiary of Cox Communications Corp., which provides cable television service in Roanoke and Virginia's Tidewater area, have similar applications pending before the commission.
Jean Ann Fox, president of Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, said her group supported changes in state law that in January made competition for local phone service possible. Competition is expected to bring lower prices and better services, but she said she doesn't expect residential consumers to see the those any time soon because of the difficulties faced in entering local markets.
As competition develops, Fox said, the SCC should put rules in place to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive practices by phone companies. Telephone carriers and other companies regulated by the SCC have been exempt from the state's consumer protection laws, she noted.
However, if the war of words between AT&T and Bell Atlantic that followed the SCC's action Wednesday is any indication, Virginia consumers should be in for some lively competition for their phone-service dollars.
Jack McMaster, AT&T's president for the Atlantic states region, said he doesn't expect Bell Atlantic to give AT&T the kind of "genuine" deal it needs in order to offer local phone service, and he expects the two companies eventually will have to settle the issue under arbitration.
On the other hand, if AT&T could negotiate an agreement to use Bell Atlantic's network at wholesale prices right away, it could begin offering local phone service and an array of other new services in Bell Atlantic's territory as early as this fall, McMaster said.
Paul Miller, a spokesman for Bell Atlantic-Virginia, responded that AT&T is more interested in delaying Bell Atlantic's entry into the long-distance market in Virginia than it is in providing its own local service. AT&T has made unreasonable demands in the talks held so far about AT&T's access to Bell Atlantic's network, Miller said.
AT&T's real goal, Miller said, is to prevent Bell Atlantic from complying with conditions set in federal law for Bell Atlantic getting into the long-distance business in the AT&T service area - parts of Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the District of Columbia.
A key condition is that Bell Atlantic have competition for its local phone service before it can sell long-distance calling.
Bell Atlantic contends it met that condition when it recently announced an agreement with Jones Telecommunications, a Northern Virginia television cable company, under which Jones can access Bell Atlantic's network to offer local phone service, Miller said.
AT&T's McMaster described Bell Atlantic's agreement with Jones as "ludicrous" and a "transparent charade" and indicated AT&T would challenge Bell Atlantic's contention that the Jones agreement is enough to satisfy the federal requirement that Bell Atlantic open its system to competitors.
McMaster said AT&T - which would buy local phone service wholesale from Bell Atlantic and resell it to consumers - wants Bell Atlantic to give it a 32 percent discount on its retail rates. The discount is justified because AT&T intends to handle its own billing, operator and long-distance services, McMaster said.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 linesby CNB