U S West Wants To Cut Some Rates

U S West Communications Group has asked Washington regulators to cut rates for some business customers in Spokane.

The change, if approved, would be the first made by U S West in response to mushrooming competition for business calls in Washington.

Spokeswoman JoAnn Ficca said the Spokane market is the most competitive in the state for local line service, with four other companies either on line or soon to be.

In Seattle, she said, competitors are chasing users of more complex services.

U S West charges business customers $27.20 cents per line for the first four lines, and $38.10 for every additional line. The penalty for volume buying struck customers as non-sensical, Ficca said.

The company has asked the Utilities and Transportation Commission for permission to make the $27.20 rate uniform no matter how many lines a business uses.

Also, the company would have the right to adjust rates within a band between $18.40 and $38.10 in response to competition.

UTC spokesman Steve King said other telephone service providers are free to adjust their rates as long as the commission and customers are notified.

The smaller companies do not have the power to control a market that U S West has, he said, adding that the company has long had the right to ask for more rate flexibility, but seldom has done so.

GST Telecom Washington General Manager Mitzi Sachs said the filing by U S West was no surprise given the pressures created by newcomers to the Spokane market. But she added that service is mentioned as often as price in meetings with prospective customers.

GST, which this week turned on its own switch in Spokane, accumulated a substantial backlog of orders for service during a three-month preselling period.

Ficca conceded that U S West had service problems as a result of a reorganization drive that coincided with a burst of growth in the area. The company has overcome those difficulties, she said.

, DataTimes