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

DATE: THURSDAY, November 10, 1994                   TAG: 9411100068
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Medium

BELL ATLANTIC DEALT SOME SETBACKS

The State Corporation Commission said Wednesday it has rejected a request by Bell Atlantic-Virginia to reinstate charges for Touch-Tone service, which the telephone utility said would mean the loss of $150 million over six years.

The SCC also denied Bell Atlantic's requests last week for other concessions relating to providing telephone service for the poor, protections for rivals in competitive markets, pricing of competitive services statewide and continued price restraints on some other services.

The SCC dismissed the requests, issuing on Tuesday a one-page order that left open the option of amending the plan later, particularly if federal or state laws change to allow competition in the local telephone business.

Bell Atlantic spokesman Paul T. Miller Jr. said the company was disappointed by the SCC's decision against more concessions, but, he added, ``It's time to move forward.''

Also, the Virginia Supreme Court refused to rehear an appeal by consumer advocates and long-distance carriers. The groups sought to reverse an SCC decision that last year extended an experimental plan for loosening telephone regulation.

The effort began in 1988 with the adoption of an experimental plan for the state's largest telephone companies. In a divided vote last month, the SCC's three-member commission adopted plans proposed by Bell Atlantic, Sprint/Centel-Virginia and Sprint/United Telephone-Southeast to substitute temporary price caps for traditional regulation of rates and earnings.

That order remains open for appeal to the Supreme Court, but consumer advocates and long-distance carriers opposed to the plan have not said whether they will challenge it.

Bell Atlantic was the only company to ask the SCC to reconsider parts of the order.

The state Supreme Court decision squelched an effort by Attorney General Jim Gilmore, the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council and MCI Telecommunications Corp.

The groups, along with AT&T Corp., had asked the court to reverse the SCC's decision to extend its experimental plan through the end of last year. The decision allowed a 1993 state law to take effect and change the standards for relaxing regulation.

The court had let the SCC decision stand on Sept. 16.

by CNB