Bell Atlantic takes its shots

Feb. 9 was a tough day for Bell Atlantic. In different ways, the regional Bell operating company was hit with accusations of anti-competitive behavior in three states.

In Pennsylvania, three state senators-Vincent Fumo, D-Philadelphia, Roger Madigan, R-Towanda, and Mary Jo White, R-Verango-said they were withdrawing from the state Public Utility Commission's Global Telecommunications proceeding on the grounds of a lack of competitive cooperation by Bell Atlantic. The series of meetings was meant to be a forum for all involved parties to discuss telecom regulatory issues. All three senators are opposed to Bell Atlantic's proposed merger with GTE, but they also feel the RBOC has not fulfilled a promise of installing a broadband, fiber optic network across the state.

Bell Atlantic "respectfully disagrees" with the statements made by the senators. "That's simply not true," said a Bell Atlantic spokesman. "In 1998, we invested between $900 million and $1 billion, which is more than what the state has spent on its own infrastructure."

The Pennsylvania PUC press secretary declined comment.

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, AT&T announced that it had formally asked the state's Department of Telecommunications and Energy to sponsor an industrywide forum to discuss local service issues.

"We first tried to work with Bell Atlantic on a business-to-business basis, but the first date they could offer was too far off," said Mike Morrissey, AT&T's vice president of law and government affairs for the Northeast.

Service failures include Bell Atlantic not responding appropriately during "hot cuts," he said. Customers who request a change of service to AT&T and then experience service problems are charged less by Bell Atlantic if they say they were slammed, he added.

A Bell Atlantic spokesman retorted that the interexchange carrier is simply trying to squelch its attempts to offer long-distance in that state. "They're the exact same bogus claims as they made in New York," he said. "They think we're getting closer to offering long-distance in Massachusetts, too, so they're doing it again."

Morrissey said the filing is more of an example of why Bell Atlantic should not be able to offer long-distance.