DS 98-089
BELL ATLANTIC
WorkSmart Package Tariff
Order Granting Motion for Proprietary Treatment
O R D E R N O. 23,022
September 22, 1998
On May 21, 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 effective June 20, 1998, introducing ValuePack,
which offers to residential subscribers an option to subscribe to
any number of Custom Calling, Phonesmart, and Ringmate services
at a single discounted monthly rate. In support of the filing,
Bell Atlantic filed a description of the new offering, a market
forecast, and a contribution analysis (ValuePack Support
Information). The Commission approved the ValuePack 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 the same date it filed the ValuePack tariff pages,
Bell Atlantic filed a Motion for Confidential Treatment, seeking
to exempt from disclosure portions of the ValuePack Support
Information (the Information), pursuant to RSA 91-A and N.H.
Admin. Rule Puc 204.06. Bell Atlantic filed the ValuePack
Support 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
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 competitively sensitive
revenue analysis, costs and targeted market demand forecasts.
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. A Bell Atlantic Product Developer, Gary Scarano,
attests that the 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 Information was useful for our review of the
ValuePack filing. We find that the 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
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