Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
September 9, 2000, Saturday, Home Edition
SECTION: Business; Pg. 3C
LENGTH: 289 words
HEADLINE:
Verizon plans four more long-distance applications
BYLINE: Michael E. Kanell, Staff
SOURCE: AJC
BODY:
Verizon
Communications plans to ask for permission to offer long- distance in two more
states in the next few months, followed by two more at the start of next year.
Verizon, the first regional phone company to win federal approval to
offer long-distance back when it was called Bell Atlantic, expects to ask for
entry in Connecticut and Massachusetts, said company Vice President Eric Rabe.
Verizon now has more than 825,000 long-distance customers in New York, he said.
When seven Baby Bells were created in the 1984 break-up of AT&T,
they were forbidden to offer long-distance. The Telecommunications Act
of 1996 opened the door --- but only if a Bell convinced the Federal
Communications Commission that it had complied with a number of rules and had
opened its local markets to competition.
Since then, mergers and
acquisitions have pared the ranks to four Bells. And while price wars have made
long-distance ever less profitable, analysts and executives say a company needs
the service in order to offer a complete package.
BellSouth, which has
been rejected in applications for Louisiana and South Carolina, is hoping for a
better result in Georgia, where it plans a filing in November.
Assuming
all goes well here, BellSouth would file for approval in Florida, said spokesman
Joe Chandler.
SBC entered the long-distance market in Texas two months
ago and has more than 500,000 customers, according to spokesman Selim Bingol.
"We expect to file in two or three other states before the end of the year."
Early in 2001, SBC will ask for long-distance in California, he said.
The other Bell, U S West, is owned by Qwest Communications, which
already offers long-distance, but only outside the US West region.
LOAD-DATE: September 10, 2000
