Coalition Criticizes PacBell Plan to Freeze Local Rates : Telecom: Proposal is called a bad deal for customers. Company wants in on long-distance market.

A coalition of cable, long-distance and other companies seeking to offer local phone service launched a counterattack on Tuesday to Pacific Bell’s proposal for how and when to open the market.

In a filing with the California Public Utilities Commission, the would-be rivals criticized Pacific Bell’s plan, announced Monday, to freeze rates for three years. The coalition called it a bad deal for customers at a time when improved technology should be driving down the cost of phone service and when the phone company was recently granted a hefty increase for basic residential service.

They also lambasted Pacific Bell’s proposal to let customers “keep” their phone numbers if they switch carriers--but at a price of $3 a month that would make choosing a rival uneconomical.

“No customer is willing to pay that,” said Stephen Bowen, an outside counsel for MCI who is serving as a coalition spokesman. “It’s an incredible barrier to entry.”

Much of what the coalition told the PUC is not new. But members decided to reiterate their views after three months of secret negotiations with current holders of local monopolies--notably Pacific Bell and General Telephone of California--failed to produce an agreement.

The coalition took a swipe at Pacific Bell’s suggestion that the PUC delay the opening of some portions of local phone markets to competition until January, emphasizing that the agency had earlier vowed to set interim rules by June 30. The PUC has promised that full competition will be in place by Jan. 1, 1997.

“We believe that any delay in implementing real local competition deprives the California economy of the benefits of the booming telecommunications industry,” Bowen said. “California should be setting the standard for the federal government as well as for other states.”

Among the elements of Pacific Bell’s plan that the coalition found most irksome were the higher-than-retail rates set by the phone company for access to elements of its network. Coalition members said favorable rates are vital to achieving robust competition.

PUC rules for elements such as Pacific Bell’s wholesale rates “will be a big driver of how widespread competition will be,” said Tom Long, an attorney for Toward Utility Rate Normalization.