BUSINESS BRIEFS
New phone books being delivered
Advertiser Staff and News Services
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The new Hawaiian Telcom phone books will be delivered to O'ahu homes and businesses beginning today.
Customers will receive the white- and yellow-page directories, as well as the smaller O'ahu Mobile Companion Directory. The compact directory was introduced last year and includes many features of the Hawaiian Telcom O'ahu Yellow Pages.
This year's directory cover features a photograph of two hula dancers taken by local photographer Barbara Gibson. The directories will be delivered through October.
Neighbor Island directories will be delivered beginning in January.
RETAIL, WHOLESALE GAS GAP NARROWS
The gap between average prices for retail regular gasoline and wholesale regular gasoline fell to 41 cents a gallon on O'ahu during the week ended July 15, the state Public Utilities Commission reported yesterday.
That was down from a gap of 51 cents a gallon the prior week. Lawmakers mandated the disclosure in hopes it will discourage unfair pricing, after the suspension of Hawai'i's controversial gasoline price caps in May 2006.
The average pretax retail price fell to $2.74 a gallon from $2.83 a gallon during the week ended July 8. At the same time, the average wholesale price rose from $2.32 a gallon to $2.33 a gallon.
The PUC's average wholesale price has been criticized as inaccurate and inflated because it combines multiple different types of wholesale transactions into one price.
2 CREDIT UNIONS ALIGN WITH LENDER
The Kauai Community Federal Credit Union and the CU Hawaii Federal Credit Union have become affiliates of Member Business Lending LLC, a provider of credit union-based SBA loans. Salt Lake City, Utah-based Member Business Lending's Hawai'i region now has 25 affiliates.
"Hawai'i's credit unions have a long history of resourcefulness and innovation in creating opportunities for growth through products and services that meet their members' unique needs," said Baron S. Nakamura, Hawai'i regional manager for MBL, in a news release.
"These new affiliates recognized MBL's strong capability to help them take advantage of rapidly growing demand for market-leading new member business lending services."
SATELLITE GROUND STATION EXPANDING
Universal Space Network Inc., a provider of commercial space operations and ground station services, said it is expanding its satellite ground station in Hawai'i.
The Newport Beach, Calif.-based company said new 42-foot S- and X-band systems are being installed at a Hawai'i ground station that will double its capacity. The installation will provide increased redundancy during critical operations and will be available for operations next June.
"USN's Hawai'i and Australia ground stations are important strategic locations for commercial launches as well as civil space exploration programs and U.S. military satellites. USN continues to lead the charge in developing multi-use stations to the benefit of both our government and commercial customers," said Joe Rothenberg, USN president and chief customer service officer, in a news release. "We are very excited about our latest expansion and look forward to continued growth in commercial ground network operations."
