Long-Distance to Be Assigned

Reluctantly bowing to federal authority, the state Public Utilities Commission voted today to assign several million California telephone customers to smaller companies for long-distance service in the next 15 months.

As a result, by 1986 many Californians will get two phone bills in their mailboxes each month--one from their current company, for local calls, the other from a possibly unfamiliar company for long-distance calls. PUC members predicted the new system would cause confusion. Customers affected by the vote will be those who do not respond to their current phone company’s request to choose among competing long-distance services, as provided in the breakup of the nationwide Bell System.