BE OUR GUEST: BELL OFFICIAL: YELLOW PAGES BILL HAS NO HIDDEN AGENDA

Craig Felzien is a community relations manager for Southwestern Bell Telephone.

Recently you have read quite a bit about House Bill 302, dubbed by many as the "Yellow Pages Bill," that is currently before legislators in Jefferson City.

This bill has no hidden a~genda. Yet, in a guest column this week, the president of Long Distance Discount Inc., made liberal application of the word "fact" when attempting to build his case against this bill.

It is not a fact to say Southwestern Bell has a "guaranteed rate of return." We are not guaranteed anything! We have an "authorized" rate of return. This means we are given an opportunity to earn at certain levels if we manage our business properly.

It is not a fact that we "experienced excessive earnings" in 1992. It is the Public Service Commission staff's opinion that we overearned under traditional price-setting guidelines. This seems odd, since for the last three years Southwestern Bell has not operated under traditional rules, but under experimental regulations that allowed the company to spend $180 million modernizing the state's telecommunications network and returning $44 million to customers.

It is not a fact that future customer credits will be adversely affected, nor rates increased as a result of the passage of this legislation. Anyone who says otherwise has not read the bill, is ignoring the facts, or has a vested interest in seeing the bill does not pass. I'll be glad to provide anyone a copy of the bill so that you can read it for yourself. Just call me at 334-9882.

It is just plain wrong to say Southwestern Bell provides only monopoly services. Currently there are more than 100 competitors certified by the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC), competing directly with Southwestern Bell in the areas of operator services, 800 services, pay telephones, private lines, shared tenant services and long distance services.

It is an affront to our elected legislators to insinuate that this issue is too complex for them to understand or that they are "less informed" than the Public Service Commission.

On to the facts of House Bill 302. It is a fact that the current law was legislated back in 1987 under House Bill 360. It was created by legislation and should be changed by legislation - not the PSC.

The change we seek is simple and involves fewer than a dozen words in the existing law. The Yellow Pages Bill removes an outdated accounting practice from the process used to establish the price you pay for phone service. Right now, the size of your phone bills are determined partly by the success or failure of an advertising company, Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages. That practice persists even though Yellow Pages and the telephone company have been completely separate operations for the last 10 years.

Not only is the practice outdated and misleading, but it is a costly regulatory process. And, the reality is that customers foot the bill for regulation.

It is stated clearly on page three of House Bill 302 that its passage does not authorize automatic adjustment to any existing rates for telephone service and the power to set just and reasonable rates still would reside with the PSC. In fact, in our recent Telefuture 2 proposal we recommend freezing rates for another three years. That would mean no increase in your cost of telephone service in more than ten years.

Once again, the bill does only three thin~gs: it removes a regulatory practice that has outlived its need; it contains wording that ensures no automatic adjustments to existing rates; and, it keeps the PSC in charge of setting rates.

As your area manager of community relations with Southwestern Bell Telephone Company I have worked under the credo, "Always maintain the long-term relationship with your customers." With this as my "guiding light" in customer affairs, I have strived to ensure that my company is a good corporate citizen to this community in the way of excellent telephone service, contributions of time, talent, and financial assistance to worthwhile projects and programs. To mislead you about House Bill 302 would jeopardize our long-term relationship and I just wouldn't do that.

I urge you to clip this article and mail it with your letter of support for House Bill 302 to your state legislators.