Verizon rivals hail FCC decision

VERIZON RIVALS HAIL FCC DECISION
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Chris Frates]
After years battling the renewed dominance of old-line AT&T and Verizon, a public interest group and a competing telephone company say a regulatory victory and a congressional investigation of the Federal Communications Commission may pave a smoother road to broader competition. A decision by the FCC last month to deny Verizon’s request to lift government price caps on fees it charges other telephone companies to use its lines sets a good precedent for consumers, say Verizon adversaries. And a new investigation by the House Energy and Commerce Committee into whether the FCC’s regulatory procedures are fair and transparent provides a consumer group and a competing phone company hope that the commission will be spurred to deal with languishing cases. One of those cases focuses on how much AT&T, Verizon and others can charge carriers to use special circuits that link high-volume voice and data traffic to a wired network. E-mails, wireless calls, credit card transactions and Internet surfing all utilize these circuits. Verizon wants the FCC to loosen the rules that regulate its prices, while Sprint and others are pushing the commission to adopt tougher price controls.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7939.html