Press Release

    HARRISBURG, Pa. - The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) today approved a petition filed by ALLTEL Pennsylvania to poll customers in its Enon Valley exchange to determine if they want toll-free service to Bell Atlantic’s New Castle and Rochester exchanges.

    Currently, calls from Enon Valley (Lawrence County) to New Castle (Lawrence County) and Rochester (Beaver County) are local toll calls. Enon Valley customers will be polled for one-way extended area service (EAS). Adding the exchange would place Enon customers in a higher rate band, increasing the monthly residential bill for flat rate service $4.14, from $10.97 to $15.11. The local calling area would increase from 27,131 to 84,011 toll-free numbers.

    Telephone companies are required to conduct subscriber polls of routes within Intra-LATA (Local Access Transport Areas) routes when the average number of calls made per line from one exchange to another exceeds 5.5 per month. Also, at least 50 percent of the lines must have been used to make one or more calls per month to the receiving exchange. A LATA is the geographical area within which a local phone company can provide communications services, including toll calls.

    ALLTEL will begin the balloting process within 45 days from today. Customers will have 30 days from the mailing date to submit ballots. The PUC will tabulate the results of the customer poll. A majority of the ballots must be returned for the poll to be valid. If a majority of the customers returning ballots favor extended area service, ALLTEL will implement it within four months after being notified by the PUC.

    For recent news releases or more information about the PUC, visit our Internet home page: http://puc.paonline.com.