TELECOMMUNICATIONS

PUC Reopens Comment Period on Caller ID: The California Public Utilities Commission has reopened the comment period on the controversial proposed telephone service that would allow subscribers to identify and record the number of an incoming call. Commissioner Patricia M. Eckert said reopening the proceeding would allow interested parties to respond, by April 8, to a brief filed Feb. 26 by Pacific Bell after the close of public hearings. The Division of Ratepayer Advocates and Toward Utility Rate Normalization, a San Francisco consumer group, had protested the filing, contending that it introduced new evidence. The earliest the full commission would take up the matter is May 8. An administrative law judge recommended in January that the commission reject the service.