The Telecommunications Research and Action Center (TRAC) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) today jointly sent a letter to Commissioner Robert B. Nelson, Chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Telecommunications Committee, urging the Committee to oppose any proposals which would require pre-subscription for intrastate directory assistance (DA) services (411). Under these proposals, consumers would be required to select a provider of 411 services, just like they have selected a long distance carrier.

"Consumers have not asked for and do not need this 'option'," said John Breyault, TRAC research associate. "411 Directory Assistance is already highly competitive. Consumers can get telephone listings and other information from incumbent carriers, competitive local exchange carriers, long distance companies, wireless carriers, over the Internet, or from directory listings. Proposals, such as elimination of the 411 dialing code to allow DA dialing code parity among competing DA providers, will create consumer confusion and create a multitude of new problems, with no consumer benefit," said Breyault.

Consumers' interest is in maintaining or increasing the number of DA calls wrapped into their local phone service, according to TRAC. TRAC and CWA strongly urge the Commission to abandon any efforts to require further unbundling of DA directly or indirectly through number assignment as such actions will not be in the public interest and are contrary to the Telecommunication Act of 1996.

Copies of the TRAC letter and filing are available upon request from johnb@trac.org

ABOUT CWA
CWA is a labor organization representing more than 700,000 employees. CWA represents more than 14,000 directory assistance operators employed by the Bell operating companies and other incumbent local exchange carriers. CWA-represented Directory Assistance (DA) operators comprise the overwhelming majority of the DA operator workforce at these companies. CWA can be found on the web at http://www.cwa-union.org.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

John Breyault, TRAC, johnb@trac.org, 202-263-2943

ABOUT TRAC:

The Telecommunications Research and Action Center (TRAC), founded in 1983, is a non-profit membership organization based in Washington, DC that promotes the interests of residential telecommunications customers. TRAC staff researches telecommunications issues and publishes rate comparisons to help consumers make informed decisions regarding their long distance and local phone service options. TRAC can be found on the web at http://www.trac.org.