RICHMOND — The State Corporation Commission (SCC) has rejected a request from the Virginia Telecommunications Industry Association (VTIA) to eliminate the requirement that local telephone companies in Virginia provide free directory assistance to their customers. The SCC instead reduced the mandatory number of free monthly directory assistance calls from three to two.

Free directory assistance calls are included with basic local dial tone telephone service. The VTIA was seeking to eliminate the provision.

The three call allowance has been in place since 1990. According to the VTIA, only a small percentage of customers call directory assistance more than once in a given month.

In its order, the Commission said, “While we acknowledge that options [for obtaining directory assistance over the past 18 years] have increased, we are unable to find just cause for the complete elimination … based on the information that has been provided in this proceeding.”

The Commission added, “Given the decline in … demand and the increase in alternative directory assistance providers, we find it appropriate to reduce the current three free call allowance to two.”

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Case number: PUC-2008-00046