DR 96-420
                                     
                           FREEDOM RING, L.L.C.
                                     
              Petition Requesting that Incumbent LECs Provide
                  Customers with a Fresh Look Opportunity
                                     
           Order Opening a Fresh Look Opportunity in Portsmouth
                                     
                          O R D E R  N O. 23,061 
                                     
                             November 6, 1998
                                     
         Order No. 22,798 in this docket granted long-term
     contract customers of New England Telephone and Telegraph Company
     d/b/a Bell Atlantic-New Hampshire (Bell Atlantic) a 180 day Fresh
     Look opportunity beginning on the date that the New Hampshire
     Public Utilities Commission (Commission) verifies that a
     competitor is operational within a given exchange identified by
     central office codes.  A Fresh Look opportunity provides for a
     lower contract termination charge to the Bell Atlantic customer
     than would normally be required under the contract agreement thus
     improving the customer's ability to seek competitive
     alternatives.
         By Order No. 23,030 dated October 5, 1998, the
     Commission clarified Order No. 22,798 "to indicate that only the
     presence of facility-based competitive local exchange carriers
     (CLECs), not the existence of operational resellers within a
     particular geographical area, triggers the Fresh Look window". 
     On October 29, 1998 Freedom Ring Communications L.L.C., d/b/a
     BayRing Communications (BayRing) notified the Commission that it
     is providing commercial local exchange service in the Bell
     Atlantic Portsmouth exchange.  This order verifies that BayRing,
     a facility-based CLEC, is operational within the Portsmouth
     exchange.  Accordingly, a Fresh Look opportunity as described in
     Order No. 22,798 begins on the date this order issues and ends at
     midnight on May , 1999.
         The relevant Portsmouth central office codes are:
         245, 334, 422, 427, 430, 431, 433, 436, 559. 
     
         Because it has been more than six months since Bell
     Atlantic notified customers of Fresh Look, we will require Bell
     Atlantic to notify all long-term contract customers in the
     Portsmouth exchange, excluding all other customers, about Fresh
     Look via the bill insert formerly approved by the Commission. 
         Customers having telephone numbers beginning with any
     of the NXX prefixes listed above may, during the 180 day Fresh
     Look opportunity, terminate long-term special contracts and
     tariff contracts pursuant to our Order No. 22,798.  By that
     order, we excluded long-term intraLATA toll contracts from the
     Fresh Look opportunity because the toll market is open to
     competition.  By Order No. 22,903 we further clarified that
     Private Line service is similarly excluded from the Fresh Look
     opportunity because Private Line service is similarly open to
     competition and is not a local exchange service.
         In order to take advantage of a Fresh Look opportunity,
     a customer's long-term contract must have two years remaining and
     the customer must have received a bona fide offer to provide the
     services from a competing local exchange carrier (CLEC). 
     Customers taking advantage of a Fresh Look opportunity are
     subject to a termination charge calculated by Bell Atlantic using
     the formula we described in Order No. 22,798.
         A customer for whom a Fresh Look opportunity has opened
     pursuant to Commission order, as it will for Portsmouth customers
     on issuance of this order, may request that Bell Atlantic
     calculate termination charges at any time.  In addition, a CLEC
     which is acting as the customer's agent may request that Bell
     Atlantic calculate the termination charge.  Requests for Bell
     Atlantic to calculate termination charges may be either written
     or verbal.  Bell Atlantic has arranged for verbal requests to be
     handled via an 800 number at 1-800-695-3230.
         When customer requests are submitted along with notice
     of receipt of a CLEC's bona fide offer to provide service, Bell
     Atlantic shall produce termination charge calculations within a
     maximum of 3 business days for tariff contracts and within a
     maximum of 5 business days for special contracts. When requests
     are not accompanied by notice of receipt of a CLEC's bona fide
     offer to provide service, Bell Atlantic shall produce termination
     charge calculations within a maximum of 6 business days for
     tariff contracts and within a maximum of 10 business days for
     special contracts.
         A customer shall not lose its Fresh Look opportunity
     simply because of a dispute arising between Bell Atlantic and the
     long-term contract customer, or its CLEC agent, which results in
     the expiration of the 180 day period prior to resolution of the
     dispute.  A customer who tenders a request to Bell Atlantic to
     terminate a long-term contract, that is, submits a notice of
     receipt of a CLEC's bona fide offer to provide service along with
     a request for termination charge calculations, within the 180 day
     period, shall retain eligibility for Fresh Look after the 180 day
     period runs.
         Competing carriers which meet the four-point test we
     identified in Order 22,798 and clarified in Order No. 23,030  as
     constituting an operational CLEC must notify the Commission of
     that status in a timely manner.  Delay in making timely
     notification could cause an unjustified extension of the Fresh
     Look opportunity.  Therefore, if unwarranted delay occurs, we may
     establish a Fresh Look window retroactive to a date we consider
     appropriate in the circumstances.
          Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby
          ORDERED, that a 180 day Fresh Look opportunity is open
     in the Portsmouth exchange, identified by the central office
     codes listed above; and it is
          FURTHER ORDERED, that termination charge calculations
     shall be requested and provided as discussed above; and it is
          FURTHER ORDERED, that Bell Atlantic notify, via a bill
     insert, only long term contract customers in the Portsmouth
     exchange, of the Fresh Look opportunity which begins on the date
     of this order and ends on May 5, 1999.
          By order of the Public Utilities Commission of New
     Hampshire this sixth day of November, 1998.
     
     
                                                                     
        Douglas L. Patch       Susan S. Geiger       Nancy Brockway
            Chairman           Commissioner            Commissioner
     
     
     Attested by:
     
     
                         
     Thomas B. Getz
     Executive Director and Secretary