CCC   PPPPP   U    U    CCC       N    N  EEEEE  W  W  W   SSS
 C   C  P    p  U    U   C   C      NN   N  E      W  W  W  S   S
C       P    P  U    U  C           N N  N  E      W  W  W  S
C       PPPPP   U    U  C           N N  N  EEE    W W W W   SSS
C       P       U    U  C           N  N N  E      WW   WW      S
 C   C  P       U    U   C   C      N   NN  E      W     W  S   S
  COC   P        UUUU     CCC       N    N  EEEEE  W     W   SSS
             California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue, Room 5301            San Francisco, CA 94102
CONTACT:  Armando Rendon          July 24, 1995          CPUC-068
          415-703-1366                    (R95-04-043/I95-04-044)

          CPUC TARGETS 1996 FOR LOCAL PHONE COMPETITION

     The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today
targeted January 1996 for opening Pacific Bell (Pacific) and GTE
California (GTEC) territories to competitor phone companies under
interim rules.
     Today's order is a key step to realizing the CPUC's general
goal of marketwide competition by establishing a framework for
"facilities-based" firms--those with their own lines, radio
towers, and switches, such as cable and long distance companies--
to offer local service by year's end.  Granting authority to
other companies as resellers of phone service should follow by
March 1.
     January 1997 is still the target date for implementing full
competition to all telecommunications markets, including the
territories of small and mid-sized local phone firms.
     This fall, additional comments will be taken and evidentiary
hearings will be held on several key issues, resulting in other
rules being in place by 1996.
     Meanwhile, facilities-based firms wishing to enter the local
phone market by January 1, 1996, as competitive local carriers
(CLC), as the rival firms will be called, should file by
September 1 for authority to operate under rules adopted today.
Those companies leasing lines for resale will be able to offer
phone service by March 1, 1996, and should also apply for
authority by September 1.
     No CLC may begin operating until all certification
requirements are satisfied and the Commission grants a
certificate of public convenience and necessity.
     The Commission revised the rules issued for comment in April
to allow for use of any technology--wireline, wireless or both--
to provide local phone service.  The draft rules had referred
                             -more-
only to wireline systems, that is, services provided over land-
based lines.
     The Commission adopted the consumer protection rules issued
in its April proposal with some minor changes, noting that no
additional evidentiary hearings were needed.  The rules provide
for protecting customers against unfair business practices, for
ongoing disclosure of rates, terms, and conditions of service,
and for resolving of complaints.
     A prehearing conference to determine a schedule for
evidentiary hearings and comments on specific issues will be
announced shortly.
     The proposed hearings and additional comments will cover
important issues such as the application of customer number
rating areas used by Pacific and GTEC for billing the CLCs, the
removal of resale restrictions, the economic effects of
permitting resale competition, and the appropriate wholesale
rates for local phone services.
                               ###