TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Pac Bell Files Caller ID Petition: Pacific Bell filed a petition asking the California Public Utilities Commission to reconsider restrictions it imposed last month in approving a controversial new telephone service known as Caller ID. The service allows customers to identify a caller’s phone number before they answer the phone. Pacific Bell said the PUC order “would make it impossible” for the company to make the services available. Among other things, the PUC had ordered that Pacific Bell grant customers who did not want their number displayed the option of blocking their line, with the possibility of selectively unblocking it by pressing a special code. Pacific Bell said such an option was not technically feasible now. It would take three years to develop, it said.