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Technology Stocks : FCC Regulations -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Francis Gaskins who wrote (4)	4/10/1998 7:02:00 PM
From: Francis Gaskins	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54

Bell Revenue Too High, Regulators Say [FG comment - if revenue is too high and the universal access fund is not hurting, then why make voice over IP users pay local access charges?] Tulsa World OKLAHOMA CITY -- Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. is netting more than $85.4 million a year in excess revenue in its local phone operations and Yellow Pages business in the state, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission staff said Wednesday. "It is possible that there are additional adjustments that will have to be made," said Ernest Johnson, director of the commission's public utility division. "We're trying to make sure the picture we have is accurate." Southwestern Bell agreed to a rate case settlement in 1995 that included refunds to customers and discounts on certain services. Since then, commission staffers said they have been trying to learn more about the results of the program. The revenue picture is not complete, Johnson and other commission staff members said, because the projections are based on 1996 figures. Southwestern Bell has stone-walled on providing further information, the commission staff said. Since Sept. 29, staff members have made 70 requests for data from the company. In 67 of those requests, the company has delayed or been nonresponsive in furnishing the information, officials said. Southwestern Bell spokesman Karen Kay Speer disputed the staff's accusations. "Southwestern Bell has fully complied with the requirements of the . . . settlement agreement," Speer said. "In fact, we have gone way beyond the requirements of the agreement by voluntarily providing staff with the massive amounts of information they have informally requested." Speer said the company has complied with 63 of the staff's 70 questions, and is working to provide more information. The commission staff had a different view of Bell's cooperation. In an application to the commission for an order directing Southwestern Bell to respond to the staff's data requests, Johnson said, "Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. has wholly failed to respond to certain data requests, only partially responded to others, and the answers that have been received have often been received long after the due date, which has adversely impacted staff's ability to properly advise and assist the commission." Based on the incomplete information in its possession, the staff has concluded that Southwestern Bell may be garnering excess revenue of $56.4 million a year in its telephone operations in Oklahoma and an additional $29 million in its Yellow Pages business. The company has refused requests for data of its Yellow Pages operation, claiming that business is not subject to regulation by the commission. The staff said the Yellow Pages business is relevant because the company can use it to offset reduced earnings in its telephone operations. Commissioner Bob Anthony, who pushed for the disclosure of the confidential information last month, said consumers have been shortchanged by the 1995 settlement with Southwestern Bell, which precludes a commission review of the company's earnings until 2001. The deal was codified by the Legislature as House Bill 1815. "The Legislature made a mistake in adopting this bill," he said. "They gave the company deregulation before competition could protect ratepayers." Under the 1995 settlement, customers could receive benefits including $125 in refund checks, $100 in calling cards and discounts on special services. Anthony said he wants to know how many checks have been cashed and other details of the settlement.