Long-Distance Access Sought by Ameritech

Seeking new avenues of expansion, Ameritech Corp. said Monday that it will ask the government to open up its local telephone monopoly to competition in exchange for access to long-distance and other communications businesses.

Ameritech, once the Midwest arm of the Bell telephone company, said it will file the request with the Federal Communications Commission in March.

“We think this is a plan that the policy makers of this country are looking for. We think this is a model,” Chairman William Weiss said at a news conference.

When the Bell system was broken up in 1984, American Telephone & Telegraph Co. won control of the long-distance and equipment business while the “Baby Bells” continued to offer local service.

With communications competition heating up, the regional Bell companies and AT&T; are both attempting to expand into fresh areas, such as cable TV, interactive video and cellular communications.

Ameritech’s plan would, in effect, revise the 1984 ruling that barred the Baby Bells from providing long-distance telephone service.

Investors liked Ameritech’s plan enough to boost its stock $1.625 to close at $76 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Analysts called the proposal impressive in its scope but implausible given the company’s current monopoly on the region.

“It’s the way things will evolve 10 to 15 years down the road, but for Ameritech to think they can file this . . . and see it enacted in the next few years is a farce,” said Blake Bath of Sanford Bernstein.

Ameritech, short for American Information Technologies, is a holding company for Bell companies that operate in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.