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Show Mountain Bell to spend $2 million in Vernal area Telephone service in Vernal will be upgraded in 1981 at a cost of nearly $2 million, according to Mountain Bell Manager, Bob Olsen. "We will be spending more than $460,000 to take care of customers waiting for service and regrades in V-rnal, Roosevelt and Duchesne and another $50,000 has been allocated for cable jobs in Ft. Duchesne and Whiterocks areas," Olsen mentioned. Approximately $1.5 million will be spent to provide "Zero Plus Dialing" which is scheduled to cutover fourth quarter of this year, according to Olsen. He said "Zero Plus Dialing" will allow Vernal and Roosevelt customers to place credit card, collect and similar-type calls without having to first dial the operator. "It is both faster and more convenient," Olsen added. Mountain Bell will also be spending nearly $250,000 in the Vernal area to provide additional circuits for long distance calling, according to Olsen. On a statewide basis, Mountain Bell moves into 1981 with a record $172.2 million construction budget for Utah. This amount exceeds last year's budget by $33 million and is over four times the $35 million budgeted in 1970. The money allocated in the 1981 construction budget is divided among four basic categories. Those categories, and the amount that will be spent for each, include: 1) Growth $104.6 million; 2) Modernization $38.3 million; 3) Customer movement $24.1 million; 4) Replacement of obsolete equipment $5.2 million. Vice president and Utah general manager, Tom Lindblom, explained that included in the $172.2 million budget is more than $12 million to provide ESS (Electronic Switching Systems). Utah telephone customers in Brigham City, Salem and Santaquin will receive the new ESS service during 1981. Midvale and Kaysville customers will received the service in 1982. |