Just like in June 2003 when Powell pushed through deregulatory ownership rules that favored large media conglomerates, Michael "Pro-Trust" Powell is at it again - this time with your telephone providers! Once again, Powell sticks it to small businesses and the public - THE ONES HE SHOULD BE REPRESENTING AND SAFEGUARDING. Michael "Captive" Powell has been captured by the very industry he is paid to regulate. What a comfort to find such a genuine public servant.
By Stephen Labaton in the New York Times:
"Telephone executives and industry analysts predicted a sharp rise in local phone rates over the next year after a bitterly divided Federal Communications Commission voted Wednesday to relax rules that had required the four large Bell telephone companies to give their rivals access to their networks at sharply discounted wholesale prices.
The decision, approved by the commission's three Republican members over the dissents of its two Democrats, was an important victory for the Bell companies, and another in a series of regulatory and legal setbacks for rivals like AT&T, MCI and a group of smaller competitors.
Still, analysts and industry executives predicted that the decision would lead to significantly higher phone rates over the next year in many markets. The exact increases are not known, although Bell executives have indicated they expect to raise wholesale rates for the use of pieces of their networks by 30 to 50 percent.
One of the Democrats on the board, Michael Copps, predicted that as a result of the decision, many other companies would follow AT&T out of the residential phone business: "Down the road consumers will face less competition, higher rates and fewer service choices."
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