DT 99-030
                                
                   FAIRPOINT COMMUNICATIONS 
                                
                  Petition for CLEC Authority
                                
          Order Granting Motion for Protective Order 
                                
                   O R D E R  N O.  23,191   
                                
                               April 6, 1999
       On March 12, 1999, FairPoint Communications Corporation
     (FairPoint), filed with the New Hampshire Public Utilities
     Commission (Commission) a petition for authority to provide
     telecommunications service in New Hampshire as a facilities-based
     competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC).  In support of the
     filing, on December 9, 1998, FairPoint filed its current balance
     sheet and income statement.  On the same date FairPoint filed a
     Motion for Confidential Treatment seeking to exempt the balance
     sheet and income statement from disclosure, pursuant to RSA 91-A
     and N.H. Admin. Rule Puc 204.06.  
       Pursuant to Puc 204.05(b), documents submitted to the
     Commission or Commission Staff accompanied by a motion for
     confidentiality are protected as provided in 204.06(d) until the
     Commission rules on the Motion for Confidential Treatment.
       In its motion, states that the balance sheet and income
     statement constitute competitively sensitive information
     (Confidential Information), the release of which would cause harm
     to the Company's business interest, that is, within the
     "confidential, commercial or financial information" exemptions
     from disclosure set forth in RSA 91-A:5,IV and N.H. Admin. Rules,
     Puc 204.06. FairPoint avers that the Confidential Information is
     regularly protected from disclosure or dissemination in the
     company's ordinary course of business and is not generally in the
     public knowledge or published elsewhere.  FairPoint also
     specifically claims that the Confidential Information is not
     available in an annual report because the company is a privately
     owned company.    
       We find that the Information provided in the filing
     contains Confidential Information meeting the requirements of
     N.H. Admin. Rule Puc 204.06 (b) and (c).  Based on the company's
     representations, under the balancing test we have applied in
     prior cases, e.g.,Re New England Telephone Company (Auditel), 80
     NHPUC 437 (1995); Re Bell Atlantic, DE 97-171 (SGAT) Order No.
     22,851 (February 17, 1998); Re EnergyNorth Natural Gas, Inc.,
     Order No. 22,859 (February 24, 1998), we find that the benefits
     to FairPoint of non-disclosure in this case outweigh the benefits
     to the public of disclosure.  The Confidential Information should
     be exempt from public disclosure pursuant to RSA 91-A:5,IV and
     N.H. Admin. Rule 204.06.
       
       Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby
       ORDERED, that FairPoint's Motion for Confidential
     Treatment is GRANTED; and it is
       FURTHER ORDERED, that this Order is subject to the
     ongoing rights of the Commission, on its own motion or on the
     motion of Staff, any party or any other member of the public, to
     reconsider this Order in light of RSA 91-A, should circumstances
     so warrant.
       By order of the Public Utilities Commission of New
     Hampshire this sixth day of April, 1999.
     
     
                                                                           
            Douglas L. Patch       Susan S. Geiger        Nancy Brockway
                Chairman             Commissioner          Commissioner
     
     
     Attested by:
     
     
                                      
     Thomas B. Getz
     Executive Director and Secretary