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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Phone Lines Heating Up In Spokane Gst Lightwave Seeks Ok To Start Serving Local Market

A third provider of telephone service could be operating in Spokane by the end of the year, officials with the newcomer say.

GST Lightwave (Washington) Inc. has applied for a city franchise to run fiber-optic cable through an area bounded by Ninth Ave., the Spokane River, and Monroe and Sherman streets.

Most downtown businesses and South Hill hospitals would be within the franchise boundaries.

Cynthia Wooten, director of regulatory affairs for the company, said the state-of-the-art, 7-mile-long system will cost about $15 million to install.

The first customers will likely be businesses such as banks that want private networks to connect their information systems, she said.

They could also bypass lines owned by US West Communications Inc. to reach long-distance carriers, Wooten said.

Because GST will not install a switch, at least initially, she said the company will not provide local exchange service like that of US West or another relative newcomer to Spokane telecommunications, Nextlink.

Wooten said GST would open a Spokane office and hire locally.

“Our mission is for long-term commitment to a community,” she said, noting that GST expects to lose money during the first years of operations in Spokane.

GST Lightwave is a subsidiary of GST Telecom Inc., which is based in Vancouver, Wash.

The company’s stock trades on the American Stock Exchange, and Wooten said total capitalization is about $300 million. She said GST employs about 250.

Formed in June 1994, the company already operates systems in Hawaii, Southern California, Fresno, Albuquerque and Tucson, and is building or planning others in Texas, California, Utah, Nevada and in the Boise, Eugene, and Tacoma areas.

Wooten said the company targets cities with populations between 250,000 and 2 million, and tries to offer more services at a better price than US West.

As part of its 15-year franchise agreement, on which the City Council will take final action April 1, GST will make two of its lines available for city use, Wooten said.

The company also would pay the city’s utilities tax.

Nextlink President Greg Green said he views GST more as a potential customer than a competitor.

With its switch and the ability to provide local exchange service, he said, “We’re quite a ways ahead of the game.”

But he added that the Spokane telephone market will be extremely competitive, particularly if Cox Cable takes advantage of legislation that recently deregulated telecommunications in the United States.

, DataTimes