DS 98-179
                                     
                               BELL ATLANTIC
                                     
                         WorkSmart Package Tariff
                                     
                Order Granting Motion for Protective Order 
                                     
                         O R D E R  N O.  23,043  
                                     
October 26, 1998
         On October 6, 1998, New England Telephone and Telegraph
     Company, d/b/a Bell Atlantic (Bell Atlantic), filed with the New
     Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (Commission), certain
     revised tariff pages effective November 5, 1998, enhancing the
     WorkSmart Package by: (a) eliminating the One-Time Charge for
     existing WorkSmart package customers who change from one
     WorkSmart package to another during the term of their agreement,
     change the length of their WorkSmart term agreement, or renew
     their WorkSmart package term agreement; and (b) eliminating the
     termination liability for existing WorkSmart customers who
     upgrade to digital Centrex service.  In support of the filing,
     Bell Atlantic filed a description of the proposed modifications,
     a Marginal Cost Analysis, and a New Hampshire Revenue Effect
     analysis.
         On the same date it filed the revised WorkSmart tariff
     pages, Bell Atlantic filed a Motion for Protective Order seeking
     to exempt from disclosure portions of the WorkSmart support
     information (the Information), pursuant to RSA 91-A and N.H.
     Admin. Rule Puc 204.06.  Bell Atlantic filed the Information in
     redacted form as well as full, unredacted copies.  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 competitively sensitive data that 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, including competitively sensitive data
     such as targeted market demand forecasts, costs and revenue
     projections.  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. The Information provides
     revenue and demand forecasts at specific price points for
     specific market segments and was developed at significant expense
     and effort. A Bell Atlantic Product Manager, Deborah A. Pelles,
     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 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 Protective
     Order 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-sixth day of October, 1998.
     
     
                                                                     
        Douglas L. Patch     Susan S. Geiger          Nancy Brockway
            Chairman           Commissioner            Commissioner
     
     
     
     Attested by:
     
     
                                      
     Thomas B. Getz
     Executive Director and Secretary