TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Pac Bell, GTE Residential Phone Rates to Fall: Telephone customers in California will be getting a small break on their bills beginning Saturday. The state Public Utilities Commission has approved revenue reductions for Pacific Bell and GTE California that will result in average monthly savings for their residential customers of 40 cents and $1.30, respectively. The rate changes result from an incentive formula designed to encourage the companies to become more efficient. A PUC administrative law judge is reviewing that formula, which has come under fire from consumer advocates and long-distance companies, which must pay the two companies for access to their customers.