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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 27, 1994                   TAG: 9408120031
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

LOCAL-CALLING HEARINGS TODAY

Bell Atlantic telephone customers with complaints or comments about the proposed expansion of a local calling area can voice their opinions today at two public hearings.

The hearings, scheduled by the State Corporation Commission, will be held at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Christiansburg.

The Bell Atlantic proposal would create a local calling area for Blacksburg, Shawsville and Salem. The plan would raise monthly rates for customers within the area - 73 cents more per month for residential customers, $3.74 more for business customers - but would allow computer users in Salem and Shawsville to connect more cheaply to the Blacksburg Electronic Village.

Although Blacksburg telephone numbers were included in the 1994 Roanoke-Salem directory in preparation for the change, 49 Blacksburg telephone customers have objected to paying the extra cost to be included in a local calling area. The SCC is required to hold a public hearing before making a decision whenever at least 20 telephone customers in an exchange oppose a change.

The Christiansburg exchange was not included in the proposal because its boundaries do not connect with those of the Salem exchange. Christiansburg already shares local calling with Blacksburg, Shawsville and Radford.

by CNB