DR 98-160
                                
           Contoocook Valley Telephone Company, Inc.
                                
                     Earnings Investigation
                                
           Order Granting Motion for Protective Order
                                
                    O R D E R   N O.  23,141
                                
                        February 9, 1999
                                
       On January 20, 1999, Contoocook Valley Telephone
     Company (CVT) filed with the Commission a Motion for Confidential
     Treatment of a certain Data Response provided in answer to Data
     Request Set # 2, Item 4 (Data Response) from the Commission Staff
     (Staff).  CVT sought concurrence from the Office of the Consumer
     Advocate (OCA), and Staff.  The OCA and Staff took no position on
     the issue.
        CVT asserts the Data Response constitutes
     confidential, commercial or financial information which is exempt
     from public disclosure under RSA 91-A:5,IV and which constitutes
     a trade secret under RSA Ch. 350-B as it pertains to confidential
     commercial or financial information which warrants confidential
     treatment pursuant to N.H. Admin. Rules Puc 204.05 and .06.  The 
     Data Response, according to CVT, pertains to information
     concerning explicit usage data by all interexchange carriers to
     who CVT provides carrier access stated in terms of both access
     minutes and revenues, which is treated as competitively sensitive
     and highly confidential by interexchange carriers and which
     warrants confidential treatment pursuant to N.H. Admin. Rules Puc
     204.05 and .06.  
            We find that the Data Response warrants protection
     under RSA 91-A:5, IV and the Commission's standards for granting
     confidential treatment in Re New England Telephone Co. d/b/a
     NYNEX, 80 NHPUC 437 (1995) and Puc 204.06.  CVT has demonstrated
     that public release of the Data Response would be harmful to toll
     competition in New Hampshire.  
       Under the balancing test we have applied in prior
     cases, Re New England Telephone Co. d/b/a NYNEX, 80 NHPUC 437
     (1995) et al., the benefits of non-disclosure to CVT and
     interexchange carriers appear to outweigh the benefits of
     disclosure to the public. 
       Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby
       ORDERED, that CVT's Motion for Confidential Treatment
     of the Response to the Data Request enumerated above is GRANTED,
     and it is
       FURTHER ORDERED, that this order is subject to the
     Commission's on-going rights in light of RSA 91-A, should
     circumstances so warrant.
     
       By order of the Public Utilities Commission of New
     Hampshire this ninth day of February, 1999.
     
     
     
                                                                      
           Douglas L. Patch       Susan S. Geiger     Nancy Brockway
               Chairman           Commissioner          Commissioner
     
     Attested by:
     
     
     
                                      
     Thomas B. Getz
     Executive Director and Secretary