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2• <br />BEFORE THE <br />NORTH CAROLINA UTILITIES COMMISSION <br />Request of the orange County ) <br />Board of Commissioners for ) <br />Countywide Extended Area Service (EAS) ) <br />INTRODUCTION <br />Since the mid- 1960's, Orange County has attempted to. <br />unite its geographic community by obtaining approval from the <br />Commission to have toll -free telephone service within the <br />county boundaries. In 1971 the Utilities Commission <br />concluded that EAS should be available between Hillsborough, <br />Chapel Hill and Durham, and issued an order to that effect. <br />However because the Chapel Hill Telephone Company was <br />privately owned by the University, the Court ruled that the <br />University system was not under the Utilities Commission's <br />jurisdiction and therefore could not require them to offer <br />EAS. The Commission has denied subsequent requests. <br />THE PROBLEM <br />Orange County contains 400 square miles with 94,000 <br />people. It is a community divided by its telephone service. <br />The County has six telephone toll areas, served by four <br />different telephone companies. Within the town limits of <br />