Callers Get Choice of Carriers on Local Tolls

A new federal ruling dictates that phone companies--including Pacific Bell--offer their customers the option of pre-selecting a rival carrier for local toll calls by May 7. Currently, PacBell automatically handles all those calls for its customers unless the caller first dials extra digits (typically 101-XXXX) to “dial around” PacBell and use a competing carrier. Under the Federal Communications Commission ruling, phone companies that already have state-approved plans for the transition must implement them by the May deadline. PacBell’s plan was approved by California regulators in 1997. For PacBell customers, the switch means they can subscribe to a toll-call carrier just as they select a company to automatically handle all of their long-distance calls. Customers of GTE Corp. already have that option. In California, the local toll market is particularly lucrative and has been the subject of a contentious battle between PacBell and competitors eager to woo PacBell’s toll customers. Per-minute local toll charges are assessed on calls that cover distances greater than 12 miles but do not qualify as long-distance.