nynex.com Navigate Products & Services Who We Are BigYellow ISDN Stock Quotes Feedback

January 24, 1997 CONTACT: Jack Hoey, Boston 617-743-3677; Erle Pierce, Manchester, NH 603-641-1651; Joan Jamieson, Burlington, VT 802-863-0797 NYNEX Proposes 25-cent Pay Phone Rate in MA, NH and Vermont; New FCC Rules Drive Change Boston, MA -- Jan. 24 -- NYNEX today filed with regulators in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont to remove the tariffs that regulate 10-cent local calls at pay phones in those states. Along with the filing, NYNEX notified commissioners in the three states that it intends to raise its pay phone rate to 25 cents in early April under new FCC industry rules. The company made the filing to comply with provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and recent FCC guidelines for the pay phone industry. The new FCC rules are intended to remove competitive barriers in the pay phone industry, require market-based pricing, and provide fair compensation for all pay phone providers. The 10-cent pay phone rate was set in 1955 in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. Under the new FCC rules, states must remove barriers to pay phone competition, set coin rates to fairly compensate all pay phone providers, and allow them to move toward market rates for their services. NYNEX said the pay phone rate changes will result in appropriate offsetting adjustments in the rates for other services. Details of those adjustments will be filed in Massachusetts with the company’s annual price cap filing in June. In Vermont and New Hampshire, details will be filed with the state regulatory commission in the coming weeks. Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont are three of the four U.S. states in which a local pay phone call is still a dime. The fourth is Arkansas. NYNEX is a global communications and media corporation that provides a full range of services in the northeastern United States and high-growth markets around the world, including the United Kingdom, Thailand, Gibraltar, Greece, Indonesia, the Philippines, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The corporation is a leader in telecommunications, wireless communications, directory publishing and video entertainment and information services. NYNEX is also managing sponsor of FLAG -- Fiberoptic Link Around the Globe -- the world's longest undersea fiber optic communications cable. FAX copies of recent NYNEX news releases are available free of charge, 24 hours a day. Call 1-800-331-1214 and an automated system will provide instructions. go to news archive