provides cable television service in most of the counties. The PUC will wait to authorize the company to begin switching telephone calls until a separate docket resolves a number of generic issues associated with the advent of competition in the local telephone market. The PUC also ordered Time Warner and established local exchange carriers to begin negotiations on interconnection agreements. Re Time Warner Communications of Ohio L.P., Case No. 94-1695-TP-ACE, Aug. 24, 1995 (Ohio P.U.C.).In another victory for Time Warner's effort to enter local telecommunications markets across the country, the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has granted subsidiary Oceanic Communications the authority to provide intrastate, intraexchange, and interexchange dedicated private-line service in the City and County of Honolulu. Oceanic plans to use the fiber-optic facilities of its cable television affiliate to provide telecommunications services to a wide range of businesses, including long-distance telecommunications companies,
government entities, financial institutions, and
manufacturers.
In granting the application, the PUC cited the positive financial resources and expertise of Oceanic's parent and affiliates, and noted that the requested services were currently available through GTE Hawaiian Telephone Co., Inc., a local exchange carrier. Oceanic is exempted from cost-of-service regulation and from a requirement that telecommunications companies file long-range incremental cost-of-service studies to prove that rates are fair to competitors and ratepayers. (Oceanic plans to tie its rates to those charged by GTE Hawaiian Telephone.) The PUC rejected allegations that the cost studies were needed to prevent "interdependent" price changes, with GTE exerting price leadership. Re Time Warner Communications of Hawaii, L.P., Docket No. 94-0093, Decision and Order No. 14145, Aug. 17, 1995 (Hawaii P.S.C.).
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