Time Warner Hits Local Telephone Markets

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has approved an application by Time Warner Communications of Ohio, L.P. to operate as a local exchange carrier in 37 counties in the state. The communications company already

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,