By Mike Boyer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati Bell Inc. Monday will formally launch residential service in Dayton, Ohio, the largest expansion ever of its local service area.

With the move, Cincinnati Bell will offer local phone service from Vandalia, north of Dayton, to Northern Kentucky.

Michael Fry, senior product manager for Bell, said the move would add more than 300,000 potential households to Cincinnati Bell's service area, about 50 percent more than it now serves in Greater Cincinnati.

Although Cincinnati Bell isn't saying how much it is spending on the expansion, it's the most tangible evidence of its growth strategy since divesting its failed $4 billion investment in a national broadband network last summer.

The expansion "continues our strategy of expanding the scale and scope of our communications business in markets with potential for selling additional features and services,'' said Jack Cassidy, president of Cincinnati Bell.

By moving into Dayton, Cincinnati Bell will be up against SBC Communications Inc., the state's largest local service provider.

To handle the service expansion, Cincinnati Bell plans to acquire about 36 route-miles of fiber-optic cable through downtown Dayton, allowing it to bypass much of SBC's network.

"We are one of the few facilities-based competitors offering service,'' Fry said. To expand local calling service, phone companies can either build or buy their own networks or lease at wholesale rates from the incumbent provider.

In a possible defensive move, SBC recently asked the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to increase its wholesale lease rates.

Bell is also introducing local flat rate calling in Middletown and Monroe, allowing residents of those two Butler County communities to call either Dayton or Cincinnati without incurring long distance charges.

Cincinnati Bell is no stranger to the Dayton market. It has been marketing business service there since last May and wireless service for six years.

Cincinnati Bell Wireless, which has about 400,000 customers in total, has about 46,000 customers in the Dayton area.

Fry said Bell hopes to tap into that customer base by offering a package of unlimited local, long distance and wireless calling for $94.99 a month , an annual savings of $120 compared with the cost if purchased separately.

E-mail mboyer@enquirer.com