DS 98-168
BELL ATLANTIC
Special Contract Bell Atlantic/Moore Center
Order Granting in Part Motion for Protective Order
O R D E R N O. 23,070
November 30, 1998
On September 17, 1998, New England Telephone and
Telegraph Company, d/b/a Bell Atlantic (Bell Atlantic), filed
with the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (Commission) a
Special Contract for Centrex Service with Moore Center (Special
Contract). In support of the filing, Bell Atlantic filed a
contract overview, cost study details and the Special Contract
(Information), in redacted and unredacted form.
On the same date it filed the Special Contract, Bell
Atlantic filed a Motion for Protective Order (Motion) seeking to
exempt from disclosure portions of the Information, 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 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
Information contains customer specific, competitively sensitive
information (Confidential Information), including targeted market
demand forecasts, costs and revenue projections, 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. Bell Atlantic avers
that the Confidential 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. Bell Atlantic states that the Confidential Information
includes: network size, routing and configuration data;
information regarding specific service features, pricing and
incremental costs; and, contract terms such as rates and billing,
which are not reflected in tariffs of general application.
Bell Atlantic also maintains that the Confidential
Information includes customer proprietary network information
(CPNI), release of which requires prior authorization by
customers. This information pertains to locations within the
State of New Hampshire where Moore Center intends to target its
business. Bell Atlantic avers that release of this information
would compromise Moore Center's business plan as well as provide
its competitors with valuable marketing information that the
customer has invested time and resources to develop. On the
other hand, Moore Center has consented, in an agreement with
Staff, to the disclosure of certain customer-specific pricing
information that would otherwise fall within the scope of
confidential information for the purpose of balancing the
interests of requesting telecommunications carriers, if any, that
may desire to resell telecommunications services Bell Atlantic
offers at retail to subscribers who are not telecommunications
carriers.
A Bell Atlantic Custom Business Services Pricer, Wayne
R. Bearie, attests that the representations of fact regarding the
Information contained in the Motion are true and accurate.
Bell Atlantic states that neither the Commission Staff
nor the Office of Consumer Advocate take a position with regard
to this Motion.
With the exception of four specific cost factors, 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 Bell Atlantic and Moore Center 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.
To the extent that the Confidential Information in this
proceeding includes any information of the type granted
confidential treatment in Re Bell Atlantic, Order No. 22,851,
that information shall be subject to the same Confidential
Treatment afforded to Bell Atlantic in that Order and should be
available to parties in that Docket, to the Commission and to the
Commission Staff, but not to the public.
The four specific factors that do not meet the
balancing test include the power, central office, capital and
maintenance cost factors. These factors were part of the public
record in our docket DR 97-171 and, therefore, will not be
granted protective treatment.
Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby
ORDERED, that Bell Atlantic's Motion for Protective
Order is GRANTED IN PART, as modified above; 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 thirtieth day of November, 1998.
Douglas L. Patch Susan S. Geiger Nancy Brockway
Chairman Commissioner Commissioner
Attested by:
Thomas B. Getz
Executive Director and Secretary