Firms Rush to Get In on Local Phone Action : Telecom: Today is the deadline for filing as California prepares to open the business to competition.

Confused about the number of companies badgering you to use their long-distance service? Brace yourself for more of the same. Dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of companies, including AT&T;, MCI and Continental Cablevision, are rushing to file applications by today’s deadline to be allowed to provide local phone services in California.

The state is moving ahead with a plan to throw the local phone business open to competition by next Jan. 1, becoming one of half a dozen states to do so. Companies interested in getting into the game are required to file documentation with the California Public Utilities Commission by today, showing they can meet minimum technical and regulatory requirements.

Analysts expect local competition to eventually generate billions of dollars in new investment in California’s communications infrastructure. It will also mean lots of new choices for consumers among various companies, phone services and rate structures--though it will be many years before full competition develops.

Continental Cablevision, the nation’s third-largest cable company, said Thursday that if it is granted permission to compete in California, it will invest more than $700 million over five years to upgrade its cable facilities to handle phone traffic.

Continental plans to offer phone service in 10 California counties, including Los Angeles, Madera, Orange and Riverside, beginning in early 1997. Where it doesn’t have its own facilities in place, the company plans to rent facilities from Pacific Bell and other local phone service providers.

“The market is ripe for competition,” said William Schleyer, president of Boston-based Continental. “We hope to market a wide range of products, from wireless to high-speed data lines to phone service, so we can be the place to serve all telecommunication needs.”

Among the new services Continental envisions is a flat fee for calling anywhere in the Los Angeles County area. And Schleyer expects high-speed data lines to be popular among the growing bands of telecommuters and Internet users.

But many of the companies filing applications say that more regulatory changes need to occur before fair competition can take place.

“Getting legal authority doesn’t mean we will be in service all of a sudden,” said William Harrelson, senior counsel at MCI.

For example, MCI and others are demanding that customers be allowed to keep their current phone numbers even if they switch providers. They also want Pacific Bell and GTE operators to give out phone numbers for customers that use competing phone services.

If these changes are made, new entrants into the phone business will invest billions of dollars in improving California’s communications infrastructure, Harrelson said. MCI alone is spending $500 million this year in selected U.S. markets to move into the local phone business.

“Our plan isn’t to just offer service to companies,” Harrelson said. “We want to offer service to every customer who wants it.”

Teleport Communications Group, which offers companies special access lines that help cut long-distance bills, is already building a sophisticated statewide network. The company, which is owned by four large cable providers, says its state-of-the-art equipment will enable it to compete with Pacific Bell by offering higher-quality service.

For consumers, the real confusion will come from companies that package and resell long-distance service and want to do the same in the local phone business. Industry insiders expect to see as many as several hundred applications to the PUC filed today by these resellers.