Nevada Bell files to expand services

Nevada Bell, the dominant telephone company serving Northern Nevada and Pahrump, wants to provide long-distance service to Nevadans.

Allowing Nevada Bell to offer long-distance service will produce 12,000 additional jobs over 10 years, Marsha Lindsey, Nevada Bell president, said in a prepared statement.

Nevada Bell is seeking support from the Public Utilities Commission for long-distance service. The PUC vote on the Nevada Bell application is expected by December, but the Federal Communications Commission will make the final decision.

AT&T is opposing Nevada Bell's application. Officials for the telecommunications giant say Nevada Bell has failed to open its local telephone markets to competition, as required for long-distance services under a 4-year-old telephone industry deregulation law.

"Northern Nevadans still have no choice when it comes to local telephone service," Jim Endres, assistant vice president of AT&T, said in a prepared statement.

Lack of competition is costing local telephone customers money, Endres said. It also results in poorer service.

Nevada Bell disagrees. The former monopoly local telephone company said competitors have won 17 percent of the market for providing local telephone service to businesses. It didn't clarify whether the 17 percent represented the number of customers or revenues.

In addition, the company said it has entered into interconnection agreements with 42 competitors, demonstrating that Nevada Bell had fostered competition.

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