ROOSEVELT — Residents throughout Uintah and Duchesne counties will soon be able to pick up their telephones and place a call from one town to another without having to pay a toll charge. The Public Service Commission recently approved basinwide calling after reviewing an application submitted by UBTA-UBET Communications. It's estimated that basinwide calling — which will stretch from the Colorado border on the east to Daniels Summit on the west— will be implemented within 90 days.
UBTA-UBET has spent the past two years in negotiations putting together a plan that would meet criteria to have the long-distance charge lifted within its service territory, said UBTA-UBET manager Bruce H. Todd.
"The commission found that there was sufficient customer support and public benefit to authorize UBTA— UBET to implement its basinwide calling plan," Todd said.
The new basinwide calling fee schedule maintains the same rates for residential and business telephone customers, including Internet and data lines. The charge would be added to monthly telephone bills so that customers would no longer be charged long distance for each call made outside of their telephone prefix.
The large calling area will help strengthen economic development in the Uintah Basin, said Irene Hansen, executive director of the Duchesne County Chamber of Commerce.
"What a selling point it will be for our communities. With boundaries and lines disappearing, northeastern Utah will be known as the best connected region in rural Utah," she said.