2. Background

Complainant Tioga Pass Resort, Inc., operates a resort a mile east of the Tioga Pass in Mono County. Yosemite National Park lies to the west of Tioga Pass Gate. During the summer, some 2,800 vehicles pass through Tioga Pass Gate daily, and approximately 100,000 visitors each year camp and hike in the region.

This complaint asks the Commission to require GTEC to provide telephone service to Tioga Pass Resort. The resort is within a GTEC filed territory known as the Lee Vining Exchange. According to the complaint, the only means of communicating between Tioga Pass Resort and nearby communities is through an old and unreliable radio telephone donated to the resort by the National Park Service. The area is not served by any cellular facilities or telephone lines.

Complainant alleges that it has used its radio telephone to respond to many emergency incidents in the Tioga Pass area, but that delays frequently are encountered because of the unreliability of the equipment. Because of the need for dependable telephone service, complainant's request is supported by the Mono County Sheriff's Department, the Inyo National Forest, the Mono County Board of Supervisors, the superintendent of Yosemite National Park, the California Department of General Services Telecommunications Division, and the Lee Vining Volunteer Fire Department.

In its answer to the complaint, GTEC states that it is willing to provide telephone service to the resort but, pursuant to its tariffs, it would require line extension and special construction charges of more than $800,000. GTEC states that it has determined that the most feasible route for GTEC to provide service is to extend facilities from the U. S. Forest Service offices within the Lee Vining Exchange approximately 11 miles from Tioga Pass Resort. GTEC acknowledges that the cost of such an extension is prohibitive for Tioga Pass Resort.