DT 99-013
                                
            HYPERION COMMUNICATIONS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
                                
                  Petition for CLEC Authority
                                
          Order Granting Motion for Protective Order 
                                
                   O R D E R  N O.  23,189  
                                
                               April 6, 1999
       On March 2, 1999, Hyperion Communications of New
     Hampshire, Inc. (Hyperion), filed with the New Hampshire Public
     Utilities Commission (Commission) a petition for authority to
     provide switched and non-switched local exchange
     telecommunications services pursuant to RSA 374:22-g.  In support
     of the filing, on the same date, Hyperion filed its proformed
     income statement for the next three years, along with a Motion
     for Confidential Treatment seeking to exempt the income statement
     from disclosure, pursuant to RSA 91-A and N.H. Admin. Rule Puc
     204.06.  
       Pursuant to Puc 204.05(b), documents submitted to the
     Commission or Commission Staff accompanied by a motion for
     confidentiality are protected as provided in 204.06(d) until the
     Commission rules on the Motion for Confidential Treatment.
       In its motion, Hyperion states that the income
     statement constitutes competitively sensitive information
     (Confidential Information), the release of which would cause harm
     to the Company's business interest and provide no general benefit
     to the public.  Therefore, Hyperion claims, the Confidential
     Information 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.  Hyperion avers that
     the Confidential Information is regularly protected from
     disclosure or dissemination in the company's ordinary course of
     business and is not generally in the public knowledge or
     published elsewhere.   
       We find that Hyperion's Confidential Information 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, DE
     97-171 (SGAT) Order No. 22,851 (February 17, 1998); Re
     HarvardNet, Order No. 23,093(December 21, 1998), we find that the
     benefits to Hyperion of non-disclosure in this case outweigh the
     benefits to the public of disclosure.  The Confidential
     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 Hyperion's Motion for Confidential
     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 sixth day of April, 1999.
     
     
                                                                           
            Douglas L. Patch       Susan S. Geiger        Nancy Brockway
                Chairman             Commissioner          Commissioner
     
     
     Attested by:
     
     
     
                                      
     Thomas B. Getz
     Executive Director and Secretary