
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994                    TAG: 9406300563 
SECTION: BUSINESS                     PAGE: D2    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, staff writer 
DATELINE: 940630                                 LENGTH: Medium

HEARING ORDERED ON WIDER, NO-TOLL PHONE PROPOSAL

{LEAD} Bell Atlantic Corp.'s plan to take the long-distance ``1'' out of calling between South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula will have to clear another hurdle before going into effect Oct. 1.

The State Corporation Commission has ordered hearings for early August on most aspects of the plan after getting letters of complaint about the proposal during a recent public comment period.

{REST} The objections mostly came from Newport News and Hampton residents upset that their basic monthly phone bills would go up 95 cents in exchange for a wider no-toll territory. Basic service charges for South Hampton Roads residents, except those in Suffolk, would stay the same.

However, practically no Suffolk customers complained about the planned changes. So the commission gave Bell Atlantic the go-ahead on Oct. 1 to drop tolls on most calls from that city to the Peninsula. Suffolk customers will get greater no-toll calling to people in other South Hampton Roads cities as well.

Bell Atlantic announced about a year ago that it wanted to eliminate tolls on most calls from one side of Hampton Roads to the other. Business and civic leaders have praised the plan, saying it would help break down the area's economic barriers.

But the proposal had to clear several public-comment hurdles. Bell Atlantic had hoped to avoid formal hearings out of concern that it could delay the changes. But if 20 or more people object in writing to a proposal, the commission is required by state law to hold hearings, said Alan Wickham, manager of operations for the commission.

Out of the roughly 145,000 customers on the Peninsula who were invited to send in letters commenting on the plan, 60 objected to it and 51 favored it, he said.

Even with the two early-August hearings, Wickham said it still should be possible for Bell Atlantic to meet its Oct. 1 goal. That is assuming the SCC commissioners approve the plan after getting a recommendation from the examiner who will conduct the hearings.

The exact dates of the hearings haven't been set.

The commission ordered separate hearings in conjunction with two other Bell Atlantic proposals: one to add Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore to the local dialing territory of South Hampton Roads; the other, to drop toll charges between the Williamsburg and Hampton-Newport News area.

Wickham said those hearings will likely be held in September, meaning that it's almost certain an effective date for those two proposals will be delayed beyond Oct. 1.

GTE Corp., the region's other big local phone company, also plans to eliminate many South Hampton Roads-Peninsula toll charges. But GTE isn't nearly as far along in the process as Bell Atlantic.

{KEYWORDS} TOLL CALLS

by CNB