Press Release

    Harrisburg, Pa. ¾ Calling it a monumental effort not attempted by any other state, the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) today asked all participants in several key telecommunications proceedings to attempt to resolve their differences in a global settlement conference.

    "From our perspective, competition is essential to the development and provision of utility services," said PUC Chairman John Quain and Commissioner David Rolka in a joint statement. "While Pennsylvania continues to make progress in the area of telephone industry modernization, a number of complex, inter-related proceedings must be resolved if we are to see real competition among local telephone exchange carriers."

    A series of technical conferences will begin on October 13, 1998, in order to refine issues before the settlement talks begin. Settlement conferences will begin on October 22, 1998, and will be facilitated by Chairman Quain and Commissioner Rolka.

    "We are offering a forum for an integrated resolution of these complex issues," Quain and Rolka said in their statement, which was supported by their fellow commissioners.

The following proceedings will be addressed in the settlement talks:

• Bell Atlantic-PA’s petition to determine whether intraLATA toll service is competitive under Chapter 30 of the Public Utility Code, and Bell’s Section 271 proceeding (interLATA) under the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996.

• Bell’s petition to determine whether its business services are competitive.

• The PUC’s generic investigation into access charge reform. Access charges are the fees a long distance provider, like AT&T, pays to the local phone company to use the local network for toll calls.

• Issues surrounding universal service, including a universal service funding mechanism.

• The PUC’s rulemaking to update and revise existing tariff filing requirements for local exchange carriers.

• The PUC’s investigation into unbundled network elements, commonly referred to as the MFS IV proceeding.

    Governor Tom Ridge has also recognized the importance of local telephone competition, making it a part of his economic development plan. At a June 16, 1998, meeting before the Pennsylvania Telephone Association, Governor Ridge stated: "Pennsylvania should be out front when it comes to telecommunications policies and innovations – a leader among states and a competitor among nations." The PUC has been working to implement local telephone competition since passage of Chapter 30 of the Public Utility Code in 1993. In 1996, the Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which further called for local telephone competition.

    To see additional PUC news releases, please visit our Internet site at http://puc.paonline.com.

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