DR 99-003
BELL ATLANTIC
Special Contract Bell Atlantic/Vitts Network, Inc.
Order Granting in Part Motion for Protective Order
O R D E R N O. 23,110
January 25, 1999
On January 7, 1999, New England Telephone and Telegraph
Company, d/b/a Bell Atlantic (Bell Atlantic or the Company),
filed with the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission
(Commission) a Special Contract for Frame Relay Service and
Digital Data Service (Special Contract) with Vitts Networks, Inc.
(Vitts), pursuant to RSA 378:18. In support of the filing, Bell
Atlantic filed a contract overview, cost study details and the
Special Contract (together referred to as the 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 204.05 and 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), which includes the number
of circuits the customer is purchasing, together with network
size, routing and configuration data; information regarding
specific service features, pricing and incremental costs; and
contract terms such as special rates and billing, which are not
reflected in tariffs of general application. Bell Atlantic states
that the release of this information would cause harm to the
Company's business interest and unfairly advantage competitors
offering alternatives to the services the customer provides, and
that it 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
other 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 also maintains that the Confidential
Information includes customer proprietary network information
(CPNI), release of which requires prior authorization by
customers. This information pertains to customer specific
features identified in the filing, which Vitts considers
financially or commercially sensitive. Bell Atlantic avers that
release of this information would compromise the privacy and
competitive interests of Vitts.
Vitts 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 Staff Director, John M. Morningstar,
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.
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 Vitts of non-disclosure in this case
outweigh the benefits to the public of disclosure. The
Confidential Information, with the exception of that which Vitts
has consented to disclose, should be exempt from public
disclosure pursuant to RSA 91-A:5,IV and N.H. Admin. Rule 204.06.
As in Docket DR 98-221, Bell Atlantic/Moore Center
(Order No. 23,070 dated November 30, 1998), 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.
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 twenty-fifth day of January, 1999.
Douglas L. Patch Susan S. Geiger Nancy Brockway
Chairman Commissioner Commissioner
Attested by:
Claire D. DiCicco
Assistant Secretary