So, do you want the phone company to provide ISP service and cable, too?
>From Benton's
AUDIT SHOWING BABY BELLS CAN'T LOCATE $5 BILLION IN GEAR COULD SPUR RATE CUTS
Issue: Telephony/Regulation
An audit of the Baby Bells found that there is $5 billion in telecommunications
equipment that they had reported purchasing and now cannot be located.
The Federal Communication Commission has not decided if it will require the
Bells to write-off the loss or take other action against the companies like
lowering consumer rates since the cost of this equipment was considered in
setting telephone service rates.. Each of the local phone giants, including Bell
Atlantic and Southwestern Bell, cannot account for hundreds of millions of
dollars of equipment.
Some FCC commissioners have doubts about the way the
audit was conducted and the conclusions drawn, says Yog Varma, top official
with the FCC's common carrier bureau. He said the FCC will solicit public
comments on how to respond to the results of the audit in April. Bob Rowe,
chairman of the telecommunications committee for the National Association of
Regulatory Utility Commissioners, says this may be an opportunity for state
regulators to reconsider how they set Bell rates.
States oversee local,
in-state long distance calls, and by doing so, help the Bells recover three-
quarters of their costs. Gene Kimmelman of the Consumers Union, an advocacy
group, says Bell companies should lower their rates because they have been
inflating their books. The Bells say the 1997 audit methods were flawed. Bell
Atlantic says they sent the FCC comments explaining that they found 97% of the
equipment the auditors had reported lost. A Bell South attorney said their
rates would not be affected by the audit that found $430 million in equipment
missing from the company.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B5), AUTHOR: Kathy Chen]
<http://wsj.com/>
> Kathy E. Gill
> DCAC/MRM Methods Communication -- 425.965.6901
> Continuous effort -- not strength or intelligence -- is the key to unlocking our
>potential. ~ Liane Cardes
> Microsoft Exchange: the perfect name for its users' greatest desire!
>
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