Telephone Competition

Rates for local toll calls in California just dropped significantly--an average of 40% in Pacific Bell’s case--with the advent of increased telephone competition.

Yet The Times says the process fostering competition “will cost consumers plenty” (“The PUC Gets Its Wires Crossed,” editorial, Jan. 5). This just doesn’t ring true.

Promoting competition is a goal we wholeheartedly support. It is also a complex task that involves balancing customer benefits, market realities and service obligations.

Those complaining that the process is too slow are eager competitors, and I don’t fault them for wanting to cash in on the $2 billion local toll market. In fact, these competitors used loopholes to capture 20% of this market even before expanded competition began on Jan. 1. This was hardly a monopoly service.

It is in their competitive interest to portray the Public Utilities Commission’s process as flawed and too slow to bring the benefits of competition to customers. They would relish a quick kill, which translates into getting immediate, unhindered access to all customers throughout California--before the local phone companies can provide long-distance services.

But their solution oversimplifies the challenges and undermines competition. It is neither fair nor competitive to give long-distance companies unbridled entree into the local phone market while banning the local exchange companies from providing long-distance service.

The introduction of toll call competition and the resultant lower rates are certainly a step in the right direction. Californians continue to pay less for service than most of the nation.

The PUC was correct in establishing the five-digit access code for customers who want to use carriers other than their local company. Until the local companies can offer long-distance service, it makes sense to maintain the access code requirement to provide some balance.

The PUC has told telecommunications providers to develop a competitive plan for its review. The burden is on the telecommunications service providers, including ourselves, to forge a compromise set of solutions for the issues of universal service, removal of asymmetrical regulation and full market competition across local and long distance. I’m hopeful we can do that and present a plan that will make California a model for others to follow.

DAVID W. DORMAN, President

Pacific Bell, San Francisco