BELL OFFICIAL DISAPPOINTED BY INACTION OF LAWMAKERS

A Southwestern Bell executive says he's "very disappointed" Missouri lawmakers didn't approve legislation this spring for a new fiber optic network.

"I think that our state is missing a great opportunity," said Horace Wilkins, president of Southwestern Bell in Missouri. The 1994 legislative session ended Friday.

Other states are moving ahead with fiber optics, while Missouri continues to study the issue, Wilkins said Saturday in Cape Girardeau. Gov. Mel Carnahan has appointed a commission to examine the matter.

Wilkins promised the company would raise the issue again in the next legislative session. "We will be back and back and back. We won't give up."

Wilkins spoke at a luncheon at the Holiday Inn Convention Center, held as part of the annual assembly of the Missouri chapter of the Telephone Pioneers of America.

More than 300 members of the George F. Durant Chapter attended the two-day convention, which began Friday.

The Pioneers are active and retired employees of Southwestern Bell Corp., AT&T and their subsidiaries.

Wilkins said that under the legislation, the telephone company would have invested at least $200 million a year in the state's fiber optic network for five years, during which time basic rates would have been frozen.

"You are talking about a billion dollar investment," said Wilkins.

Of the $200 million annual investment, $25 million would have been earmarked specifically for schools, hospitals and law enforcement.

Critics said the bill would have removed the telephone company from the regulation of the Missouri Public Service Commission and left rates frozen at an excessive profit level, without assuring any expansion of fiber optic technology.

Wilkins, however, said Southwestern Bell wasn't proposing deregulation.

But he explained the company believes that as a reward for making an investment in fiber optics, it shouldn't have to "give profits back."

Wilkins said the company can live with price but not profit restrictions. "Price regulates us," he said. "But don't say that all you can make is $10 and your profit can only be $1."