DR 98-132
BELL ATLANTIC
Integrated Services Digital
Network - Primary Rate Interface Tariff
Order Granting Motion for Proprietary Treatment
O R D E R N O. 23,025
September 22, 1998
On July 17, 1998 New England Telephone and Telegraph
Company, d/b/a Bell Atlantic (Bell Atlantic), filed with the New
Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (Commission), certain
tariff pages for effect August 16, 1998, introducing Integrated
Services Digital Network-Primary Rate Interface enhancements and
optional features (ISDN-PRI filing). The ISDN-PRI filing extends
the minimum service commitment period , introduces a variable
term payment plan, and prohibits transfer to another carrier. In
support of the filing, Bell Atlantic filed cost support data. By
Order No. 23,016, the Commission approved the ISDN-PRI filing,
permitting the specified tariff pages to go into effect
automatically pursuant to RSA 378:3, RSA 378:6, and N.H. Admin.
Rule 1601.05.
On July 22, 1998, Bell Atlantic filed a Motion for
Confidential Treatment, seeking to exempt from disclosure
portions of the filed cost support data (Cost Information),
pursuant to RSA 91-A and N.H. Admin. Rule Puc 204.06. Bell
Atlantic filed the Cost Information in redacted form as well as
full, unredacted copies. Pursuant to Puc 204.05(b), documents
submitted to the Commission or Staff accompanied by a motion for
confidentiality shall be protected as provided in 204.06(d) until
the Commission rules on the Motion for Confidential Treatment.
In its motion, Bell Atlantic states that the Cost
Information contains competitively sensitive data that is within
the exemptions from disclosure set forth in RSA 91-A:5,IV and
N.H. Admin. Rules, Puc 204.06, including targeted market demand
forecasts, costs and revenue projections. Bell Atlantic avers
that the Information is not readily available to competitors,
would be of value to competitors in developing competitive
marketing strategies, and is regularly protected from disclosure
or dissemination in the company's ordinary course of business.
segments and was developed at significant expense and effort. A
Bell Atlantic Product Developer, Patricia McElligott, attests
that the Cost Information is compiled from internal data bases
that are not publicly available and which are protected from
dissemination either by Bell Atlantic employees or by non-Bell
Atlantic employees.
The Cost Information was useful for our review of the
ISDN-PRI filing. We find that the Cost Information contained in
the filing meets 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, 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 Bell Atlantic of non-disclosure in this case
outweigh the benefits to the public of disclosure. The Cost
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 Bell Atlantic's Motion for Proprietary
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 twenty-second day of September, 1998.
Douglas L. Patch Bruce B. Ellsworth Susan S. Geiger
Chairman Commissioner Commissioner
Attested by:
Thomas B. Getz
Executive Director and Secretary