Phone Rates

Re “Basic Phone Fees to Rise” (Sept. 16):

le Let me get this right. GTE, a corporation that netted $1.5 billion in 1993 and spent more than $1 billion just a year ago to acquire Contel Corp., which has known for more than seven years that competition in the local long-distance market was coming, now pleads it is “unduly expensive” and needs more time to institute 1-plus dialing so that other carriers may truly compete?

I find this amazing! However, even more amazing is that the PUC concurred.

MICHAEL D. MYERS

Los Alamitos