Free Republic

Excerpt - AT&T Inc. is nearing the acquisition of BellSouth Corp. for roughly $65 billion, people familiar with the situation said Saturday evening. A deal could be announced as early as Monday, these people said. ~snip~

SBC Communications, the second-largest regional phone company in the nation, is in talks to buy AT&T for more than $16 billion, according to executives close to the negotiations. A deal, if reached, would be the final chapter in the 120-year history of AT&T, the first technological giant of the modern age and the original model for telecommunications companies worldwide. A deal would be a reunion of sorts, putting back together some of the largest pieces of the Ma Bell telephone monopoly, which was broken up in 1984. The talks, which the executives described as "fluid" and "very, very sensitive"...

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission released its long-awaited rules governing competition in the local-telephone industry Thursday, over six months after initially approving the measure in a 3-2 vote. But the release signals less the end of a process than the beginning of litigation that has been promised from virtually every corner of the industry. Suits are likely from the Baby Bells, which were looking for more relief from obligations that they lease their networks at low cost to competitors like the local arms of AT&T Corp. and MCI, as well as competitors who will say that deregulation of...

Anticipated FCC Broadband Ruling Next Major Step on Path to New Networks With Nearly Limitless Bandwidth for Internet, Voice and Innovative Video Applications ATLANTA, SAN ANTONIO and NEW YORK, May 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Three of the nation's largest telecommunications service providers -- BellSouth (NYSE: BLS), SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE: SBC) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) -- have adopted a set of common technical requirements based on established industry standards and specifications for a technology known as fiber to the premises (FTTP). These advanced fiber-optic systems can be used to connect homes and businesses to telecom networks. Today's announcement is a major...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--A divided Federal Communications Commission is still struggling to complete before the end of the month key telephone competition rules adopted in concept on Feb. 20. While some in the agency are optimistic the job will be completed by next week, others aren't so sure. The commissioners are scheduled to vote on a major rewrite of media ownership rules by June 2, possibly making completion of the phone rules difficult before then. Meanwhile, a trade association representing the dominant local telephone companies said investment is on hold until the FCC releases the new phone rules. The delay...

NEW YORK - It may be the best news the high-tech industry has seen all year: This morning Verizon Communications laid out the details of its plan to slash prices, increase speeds and reach more customers with high-speed Internet access--moves which could invigorate the relatively torpid U.S. broadband market. High prices and lagging speeds have been the two primary reasons that America's use of broadband lags well behind global leaders such as Canada and South Korea. Silicon Valley groups such as Technet say the slow U.S. rollout has crippled many bandwith-hungry technologies and left the U.S. telecom industry drowning...

Shortchanged The Baby Bells may have bilked consumers out of billions by inflating the cost of their networks. Regulators seem content to overlook the matter. Front-page headlines in June 2000 hailed a historic deal that dramatically cut phone rates for the nation's consumers. The Federal Communications Commission, in persuading the Baby Bells to slash the access fees they charge long-distance carriers for routing calls to their local lines, said it would save customers $3.2 billion a year. The FCC's claim to have enacted "the largest rate cut in the history of federal telephone regulation" was the New York Times'...

Chairman Michael K. Powell sharply dissented from the portion of the Federal Communications Commission's Order of February 20, 2003, which retained obligations of incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) monopolists to unbundle network elements to facilitate budding competitive carriers. On the other hand, the Chairman celebrated the withholding of corresponding unbundling obligations for new fiber lines capable of a dazzling array of broadband services, such as Internet, television, movies, or high speed data. Both positions seem ill-conceived. According to the Chairman, new fiber construction by the gang of four ILECs-Verizon, SBC, Qwest, and BellSouth-would spurt because its broadband profit opportunities...

WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Dominant U.S. local telephone companies such as BellSouth Corp. will likely invest further in high-speed networks despite a decision that they must continue to share their networks with rivals, Federal Communications Chairman Michael Powell said on Wednesday. The FCC voted to keep rules that require the carriers to give rivals discounted access to their voice networks but lifted sharing requirements on fiber-optic networks in hopes of spurring further investment in high-speed networks and video-on-demand. Powell, who had favored reducing sharing requirements on most voice and data services offered by the carriers but was outvoted...

Iraq wasn't the only one recently facing a countdown from a man named Powell. Competition in the vital telecommunications sector faces one, too. Just as Secretary of State Colin Powell has said time is running out on Iraq, his son, Federal Communications Chairman Michael Powell, has promised to meet a largely self-imposed Feb. 20 deadline for issuing new rules governing wireline telephone services. But will it be a case of like father, like son? Most press reports say not. Secretary of State Colin Powell wisely has refused to accept the false promises of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein that he...

DSL Prime News: The Inside Source A leak from the FCC says a deal on line sharing has been reached because the RBOCs are about to build fiber, and therefore no longer hate sharing their outdated copper networks. "The Bells are about to build fiber, and that explains the coming FCC decisions." -- Leak from the top of the FCC Powell is apparently cutting a private deal with Seidenberg and Whitacre. He will give them less competition, and they will promise to build out a fiber or VDSL network. Powell hopes to change a public relations disaster into a...

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell told the Senate Commerce Committee on Monday that "we are at critical crossroads in communications," spurred by computerization. Who could disagree with that? And who could disagree with the five goals set out by the son of Secretary of State Colin Powell for a more vibrant telecom tomorrow: "Bring consumers the benefits of investment and innovation in new communications technologies and services. "Expand the diversity, variety and dynamism of communication, information and entertainment. "Empower consumers, by moving toward greater personalization of communications - when, where, what and how they want it. "Promote universal...

A report released Monday reveals just why the regional Bell monopolies are so frantic about getting FCC Chairman Michael Powell to change the rules and cut off competition for local telephone service. The report shows that at the end of 2002, the Bells' competitors had won customers for an estimated 10 million residential and small business lines - thanks to UNE-P, an acronym that stands for "unbundled network element platform." UNE-P, a critical ingredient in the plan for deregulation laid out by Congress and the White House in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, is bringing Americans lower prices and...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's top communications regulator told lawmakers Tuesday that upcoming decisions on local phone competition and media ownership will not take choices away from consumers. "We will be guided exclusively by the public interest,'' Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell told the Senate Commerce Committee. The agency's decisions this year could reshape the landscape of media companies and the telecommunications industry. All five of the FCC's commissioners testified before the committee. The most contentious issue at the hearing involved an FCC review of rules involving the leasing of telephone networks. The regional Bell companies -- BellSouth...

The Wall Street Journal today reports that Chairman Michael Powell will ask the FCC to vote early next month on changes that would force competitors to pay the giant Bell companies higher rates to lease lines - "a move," write Journal reporters Yochi J. Dreazen and Shawn Young, "that could reduce competition and price-cutting in the local phone market." There's no "could" about it. If the FCC goes ahead on Powell's plan, the huge gains that consumers have scored in the past year will be erased, and the chances for a high-tech recovery will diminish. If there is one...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are preparing to stop making local phone companies rent their networks to rivals at cheap rates, a move that could reduce competition and price-cutting in the local phone market, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The expected change by the Federal Communications Commission would be a huge win for the four regional Bell companies, which are trying to continue their domination of the profitable local market, the report said. It could be a significant setback for their biggest competitors, the two already beaten-down long-distance giants, AT&T Corp. and WorldCom Inc, which have...

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) - SBC Communications' President William Daley said Monday that unless regulators and legislators ease up on monopoly rules that are hurting the telecom industry, the collapse of the largest telecom companies could grow worse. "The industry is in a meltdown," Daley said Monday in an address at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. "And it's just a brushfire compared to the wildfire that could be on the way." According to Daley, about 500,000 telecom-industry jobs have been lost and $2 trillion in market capital has evaporated in the last 18 months. Daley, a former...

What should be done with, or for, the Bells? Investors, lawmakers, regulators and, increasingly, consumers, are engrossed with that question as the large local phone carriers known as the Baby Bells struggle with their first decline in customers since the Depression. The erosion is fueling talk of whether the government should step in to strengthen these companies to protect a vital public service. At the heart of the debate is an arcane but crucial regulation that requires Verizon Communications, SBC Communications, BellSouth and Qwest Communications International to sell access on their networks to competitors at prices that can be...

Honorable Michael K. Powell Chairman Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 Dear Chairman Powell: It is widely anticipated that WorldCom will file for bankruptcy in the near future.1 The United States Telecom Association (USTA), on behalf of its members, wishes to express its concern about the significant financial injury to the telecommunications industry, the customers it serves, and the nation’s economy if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fails to take appropriate actions to ensure that this and other bankruptcies do not lead to a state of crisis in the telecommunications industry. In this respect, any...

FCC should limit WorldCom effects-US telecom group WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission should take steps to ensure that WorldCom Inc., on the verge of entering bankruptcy protection, does not inflict financial harm on other carriers, the trade group representing big local telephone companies said on Sunday. The United States Telecom Association said its members, which include Verizon Communications and BellSouth Corp., would continue to provide services like connecting calls initiated on the WorldCom network but that they should not have to absorb huge costs so it can continue operating. "The FCC should take affirmative steps...