THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996                TAG: 9605230337
SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER 
                                            LENGTH:   36 lines

SCC SAYS GTE SHOULD CUT CHARGES ABOUT 16%

Sharply countering the company's proposal, the State Corporation Commission's staff has recommended that GTE Corp.'s local telephone charges be slashed by nearly 16 percent.

GTE-South, the state's second-largest local phone company, proposed last year a major overhaul of its charges for Virginia customers, including about 70,000 in Hampton Roads and western Tidewater.

Under the GTE plan, many residential customers' rates would rise sharply, by as much as $12 a month, in return for larger local calling areas. Other areas' rates would drop under the proposal. The company contended that the net effect would be to keep its total revenues the same.

But the commission's staff said GTE's proposal would actually increase the phone company's profit margin and that its charges should be slashed by $43.8 million a year instead.

The staff, responding to concerns from customers in some rural communities, said that instead of making every customer pay dramatically more each month to get a larger no-toll calling zone, GTE should give customers choices:

Keep their current calling zone and rate structure.

Pay slightly more for the addition of selected exchanges to their local calling area.

Pay a premium rate for calls within a widely expanded local dialing area.

The final decision rests with the three members of the commission and likely won't come until late this year at the earliest. The commission is planning a detailed hearing on the GTE rate plan June 17 in Richmond to hear evidence in the case.

Bell Atlantic Corp., the state's largest local phone company, won commission approval in 1994 for a plan that freezes its customers' basic rates until 2001. by CNB