Citizens To Provide Local Phone Service

Washington regulators have approved an agreement that will add Citizens Communications to the list of companies providing local telephone service in Spokane.

Citizens negotiated a pact with US West Communications that allows the Connecticut-based company to resell service on its local lines.

The company opened a Spokane office a year ago, and has sold longdistance service since then.

Spokeswoman Martha Alcott said Citizens’ target market is small- and medium-sized businesses.

The company has negotiated similar local service agreements for seven other Western states served by US West, and in California and New York, she said.

Citizens becomes the fifth company to provide local service in Spokane as deregulation expands customer options.

Citizens Communications, with a customer base of about one million, is a subsidiary of Citizens Utilities. , DataTimes