Subject: NY PSC and Bell Atlantic Entry into Long Distance
James Love (love@cptech.org)
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 21:41:28 -0500
Message-Id: <3521A958.274C23A0@cptech.org> Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 21:41:28 -0500 From: James Love <love@cptech.org> To: Roundtable <roundtable@cni.org> Subject: NY PSC and Bell Atlantic Entry into Long Distance
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Info-Policy-Notes | News from Consumer Project on Technology
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On March 17, 1998, the New York Public Service Commission issued a draft
proposal outlining terms under which Bell Atlantic could enter the long
distance market. The PSC then gave stake holders just six days
(including a weekend) to comment on the proposal, and turned down
requests for public hearings. The PSC was rumored to be ready to
approve the plan on Wednesday, April 1, 1998. On March 31, 1998 Ralph
Nader and CPT wrote the New York PSC, objecting both to the process and
the proposal itself.
The letter follows:
Ralph Nader
P.O. Box 19312, Washington, DC 20036
Ralph@essential.org
James Love, Director
Consumer Project on Technology
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
http://www.cptech.org, love@cptech.org
202.387.8030, fax 202.234.5176
March 31, 1998
John F. O'Mara
Chairman
New York State
Public Service Commission
Department of Public Service
3 Empire State Plaza
Albany, New York 12223-1350
Re: Case 97-C-0271, Bell Atlantic Entry into Long Distance Markets
Dear Chairman O'Mara
We are writing to express our concern that the New York Public Service
Commission (PSC)
is not providing adequate public review of proposals that would permit
Bell Atlantic to enter long distance telephone markets. It is our
understanding that the PSC Staff issued a critical report on this topic
on March 17, 1998, and provided stakeholders, including consumers, only
six days (including a weekend) to submit comments, which were limited to
10 pages, and that requests for public hearings were denied.
The key issue for consumers is the terms under which Bell Atlantic, a
monopoly provider of local service, will be permitted to further
vertically integrate. Lawmakers and incumbent local exchange telephone
companies claimed that the 1996 Telecommunications Act would usher in a
new era of competition, but consumers have seen few of the promised
benefits. The primary leverage to obtain actual competition for local
service comes from the conditions regulators attach to Bell Atlantic's
entry into the long distance market. If the NY PSC strikes a poor
bargain, a historic opportunity to open telecommunications markets will
have been lost, and consumers will suffer even more, as Bell Atlantic
will likely leverage its local service monopoly into vertical markets.
A number of parties in the New York proceeding have identified
compelling concerns over major features of the current proposal by the
PSC staff to permit Bell Atlantic to enter long distance markets. These
concerns deserve a full and detailed airing, prior to PSC approval of a
recommendation to the Department of Justice (DOJ) or the Federal
Communications Commission. (FCC).
We are particularly concerned that the process outlined by the PSC does
not provide for (1) specific tests of the success of the present
proposal, so that the PSC can consider alternative approaches should
local service competition fail to materialize for residential consumers,
(2) adequate mechanism to ensure compliance with Bell Atlantic promises
regarding levels of services to its competitors, and (3) sufficient
commitments to ensure that residential consumers will benefit from
competition in markets for Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technologies
and other higher bandwidth services, which are essential for faster
residential connections to the Internet. We are also extremely concerned
about the proposal for the rapid sun-setting of Bell Atlantic's
obligations to provide access to its unbundled network elements (UNE),
regardless of the state of actual competition.
No action should be taken until the PSC holds public hearings on the
March 17, 1998 staff proposal, which contains new and highly
controversial proposals that would severely limit competitor's access to
Bell Atlantic's unbundled network elements (UNE). We will be contacting
your office to determine which specific steps the PSC is taking to
provide a more meaningful public debate on this important topic.
Sincerely,
/s/
Ralph Nader
/s/
James Love
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