DS 98-168
                                     
                               BELL ATLANTIC
                                     
                Special Contract Bell Atlantic/Moore Center
                                     
            Order Granting in Part Motion for Protective Order 
                                     
                         O R D E R  N O.  23,070 
                                     
                        November 30, 1998
         On September 17, 1998, New England Telephone and
     Telegraph Company, d/b/a Bell Atlantic (Bell Atlantic), filed
     with the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (Commission) a
     Special Contract for Centrex Service with Moore Center (Special
     Contract).   In support of the filing, Bell Atlantic filed a
     contract overview, cost study details and the Special Contract
     (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 204.06.  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), including targeted market
     demand forecasts, costs and revenue projections, the release of
     which would cause harm to the Company's business interest, 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.  Bell Atlantic avers
     that the Confidential 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. Bell Atlantic states that the Confidential Information
     includes: network size, routing and configuration data;
     information regarding specific service features, pricing and
     incremental costs; and, contract terms such as rates and billing,
     which are not reflected in tariffs of general application.
         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 locations within the
     State of New Hampshire where Moore Center intends to target its
     business.  Bell Atlantic avers that release of this information
     would compromise Moore Center's business plan as well as provide
     its competitors with valuable marketing information that the
     customer has invested time and resources to develop.  On the
     other hand, Moore Center 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 Custom Business Services Pricer, Wayne
     R. Bearie, 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.
         With the exception of four specific cost factors, 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 Moore Center 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.  
         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.  
         The four specific factors that do not meet the
     balancing test include the power, central office, capital and
     maintenance cost factors.  These factors were part of the public
     record in our docket DR 97-171 and, therefore, will not be
     granted protective treatment.
         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 thirtieth day of November, 1998.
     
     
                                                                     
        Douglas L. Patch     Susan S. Geiger          Nancy Brockway
            Chairman           Commissioner            Commissioner
     
     
     Attested by:
     
     
                                      
     Thomas B. Getz
     Executive Director and Secretary