RSSFCC Approves Telecom Mega-Mergers
By Ed Oswald | Published October 31, 2005, 4:33 PM
The FCC on Monday approved two mergers that will shake up the telecom industry: Verizon's $8.45 billion joining with MCI and SBC's $16 billion acquisition of AT&T. The U.S. government agency said that consumers would benefit from both mergers.
Among the positives are the increased performance and reliability of what the government regulator called "complementary networks." The FCC also noted that both newly merged companies would remain U.S.-owned as another point in favor of the deals.
The FCC found that the concerns interest groups brought to the table, such as the two companies controlling a large portion of Internet access for Americans, were unfounded.
As a stipulation, both SBC -- soon to be known as AT&T -- and Verizon must offer DSL access without the purchase of a phone line for two years after the agreement. Pricing caps must also be put into place on certain network services for the same period.
In addition, the two companies agreed to Internet neutrality rules to ensure that third parties could peer with them without paying exhorbanent fees, and prevent disagreements such as the one between Level 3 and Cogent earlier this month.
The FCC unanimously approved both mergers, although some saw the provisions as unnecessary.
"I believe that the affected markets would remain vibrantly competitive absent these conditions," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wrote in a statement. "Nevertheless, the parties involved have chosen to make these commitments now in order to obtain the certainty of immediate Commission approval for their mergers."
Fellow Republican commissioner Kathleen Abernathy also said the conditions were unnecessary, calling it "regulatory oversight."
The Democratic commissioners disagreed. "I also am pleased that these conditions now express a measure of concern for the effects of these mergers on competitive wireline providers," Commissioner Michael Copps wrote.
However, in a board where only four of the five positions are filled -- two by Republicans, and two by Democrats -- all parties involved realized that a compromise was necessary to ensure approval.
Both SBC and Verizon were satisified with Monday's decision.
"After two federal reviews and strong approvals by shareholders and the international community, it is clear that this combination is undeniably in the public interest," Tom Tauke, Verizon executive vice president, said of his company's deal.
There once was a monopoloy named ATT who was forced to break up.....One new Baby Bell was SBC Communications which now after buying ATT&T will be changing its name back to the former.....Full circle....(Hurl)
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|Not all that many years ago, the same government decided that breaking up telephone company monopolies was in the best interest of consumers. As always, history merely repeats itself.
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|When verizon has faster internet I will move to them. For now my money will be sucked away to comcast. 42 bucks is too much for internet. But verizon is less than hald that speed. And i need speed.
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|you dont know about verizon fios then, go to www.verizon.com/fios they put a direct fiber optic cable to your house. 5mbs starting going all the way to 30 mbs
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|Still restricting your upstream. Feh.
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|SBC and Verizon to be named AT&T? This is a Halloween joke right?
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|Yeah, that sentence—like many newspapers anymore—is poorly written.
It should be "SBC (soon to be known as AT&T) and Verizon..."
C'mon, news services. Just because computers are equipped with spell- and grammer-checkers doesn't mean you shouldn't employ competent proofreaders.
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|Think about what you're saying.
Please.
Think.
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|This will actually benefit consumers: up to now, most competing entities were too 'weak' to really compete fully vs each other(having patchwork coverage areas and not all available product offerings)in order to therefore benefit consumers.
1. There will now be at least two entities(& large ones at that) in most major US markets, each capable of offering ALL necessary telecom products, to wit-- voip and/or landline telephone, cellular, wifi, broadband, cable tv... theoretically none of these services will enjoy a monopoly again, and competitive all-in-one bundles should arrive for the masses.
2. These giants(& their competitors) will now have funds, budget justifications, and/or competitive imperatives to blanket their coverage areas with advanced wiring of the last mile-- cable, dsl, powerline, & wireless all capable now of 100+mb...
Just like for retail & consumables in general, consumers usually benefit more when multiple competitors are strong & able to offer a full product menu--
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|aww they are merging for our benefit, such humanitarians. I'm overcome with warm fuzzies.
*tear*
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