
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 7, 1993                   TAG: 9310070105
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

SCC EXTENDS ITS INVESTIGATION OF GTE SERVICE

After hearing GTE Virginia officials explain the reasons for a rash of service problems, utility regulators agreed to extend their investigation of the state's second-largest telephone company.

The extension was recommended Tuesday by the State Corporation Commission staff and accepted by the three-member commission.

"This commission is not interested in chastising the company," SCC member Preston C. Shannon said. "We want to ensure that GTE maintains significant presence in Virginia and provides the best and most reliable service possible."

The SCC began its probe in August, citing an "alarming trend" of outages, slow response to customer calls and other service problems, including a six-hour disruption of 911 service in Hanover County.

GTE, which serves about 430,000 access lines in 42 counties and the cities of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, blamed many of the problems on rapidly changing technology and the 1992 merger of the GTE and Contel systems, in which GTE absorbed Contel's technical and administrative systems. - Associated Press

by CNB