THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 14, 1994 TAG: 9412140402
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Virginia's cable-TV industry, three big long-distance telephone companies and two consumer groups said Tuesday that they've united behind legislation that would help open up competition for local phone services in the state.
Leaders in the group, called Tele-Future Virginia, predicted that their coalition will increase pressure on the General Assembly to pass a telecommunications-reform bill in its next session starting in January.
``What brought this group together is a united view that it's high time for competition in local phone service in Virginia,'' said Robert Lopardo, a senior attorney for MCI Communications Corp.
Local phone-service monopoly providers like Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. are the main targets of the lobbying thrust.
Those companies and some members of the Tele-Future consortium, principally the cable industry, tried drafting a reform bill to present to the General Assembly. However, efforts at a compromise snagged in recent weeks.
Del. George H. Heilig Jr., a Norfolk Democrat and chairman of the House Corporations, Insurance and Banking Committee, said he's confident that the legislature will pass a telecommunications-reform measure next year. He has asked local phone companies and members of the new consortium to keep working on language for a new bill, to be introduced in January.
The Virginia Citizens Consumer Council and American Association of Retired Persons have decided to back the cable and long-distance companies' effort because they think ending monopolies will improve phone services and cut rates.
However, local phone companies say they're not keen on some of the changes proposed by Tele-Future.
Their primary difference is over Tele-Future's proposal that the General Assembly abolish a state law barring competition in local phone services and then let the State Corporation Commission decide when and how to de-monopolize services.
Bell Atlantic believes that the General Assembly shouldn't just wash its hands of the matter, said William F. White III, a spokesman for the carrier, the largest local phone-service provider in the state.
``The State Corporation Commission needs to know from the General Assembly what standards should apply to guide its decisions in these policy matters,'' he said.
Another sticking point is over when to open up competition. And proposed federal telecommunications reform in Congress is overshadowing the debate. It's not clear how changes at the federal level will affect the rules in the state. by CNB