Bell Atlantic to Unveil Plans for Long-Distance Data Network
New York, June 7 (Bloomberg) -- Bell Atlantic Corp., the
largest U.S. local phone company, will announce plans tomorrow to
build a long-distance network for Internet and data traffic in a
bid to grab a bigger piece of the fast-growing market.
Bell Atlantic, which offers local services in 13 states from
Maine to Virginia, asked the Federal Communications Commission in
January to waive rules restricting it from offering long-distance
services to local customers. The 1996 Telecommunications Act
prohibits Baby Bells like Bell Atlantic, which have a virtual
monopoly on the local market, from offering long-distance until
their local regions are open to competition.
Though the New York-based company already offers Internet
access to local customers, it must pass the traffic to other
carriers to send the information outside of its local markets.
The Bells are free to offer the services outside of their local
regions, and building the network will give Bell Atlantic the
ability to go after the fastest-growing market in the
telecommunications industry.
''Data networks are the future,'' said Jeffrey Kagan,
president of market researcher Kagan Telecom Associates in
Atlanta. ''This will be key to their viability.''
Kagan said 1998 is the first year that data traffic will
surpass voice on phone networks, and he expects in the next few
years that data will account for 80 percent of all phone traffic.
Though the FCC hasn't yet decided whether the Bells will be
able to offer long-distance data services to their local
customers, Bell Atlantic said its plans are legal.
'Confident' of Legality
''What we're going to announce, we're confident we can do,''
said Larry Plumb, a company spokesman. He declined to comment
further.
Joe Farina, president and chief executive of the company's
data solutions group, will host a conference call for analysts
and reporters tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. New York time to
discuss the plans.
Other Bells, including Denver-based U S West Inc. and
Chicago-based Ameritech Corp., have made similar applications at
the FCC to offer long-distance data services.
Last week, Bell Atlantic said it will offer high-speed
Internet access services to customers in Washington, Pittsburgh
and Philadelphia in September and in New Jersey's Hudson River
area in October. New York and Boston will be added next year.
In order to offer long-distance services in their regions,
the Bells must pass a 14-point checklist set up by the FCC to
prove those markets are open to competition. So far, none of the
Bells has passed the test.
.....however I'm stuck with Bell Atlantic.
o~~~ O
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