PC Users Stall Plan to Hike Phone Rates
The Federal Communications Commission plans to scrap a proposal that would substantially increase telephone charges for business and home computer users, sources said Wednesday.
FCC Chairman Dennis R. Patrick has concluded that, based on strong and nearly unanimous opposition to the proposal, the plan should be dropped, according to sources at the commission and on Capitol Hill.
Commissioner Patricia Diaz Dennis said Patrick had not spoken with her about a recommendation to drop the plan, but she said she agreed with the idea.
“There’s a lot on our plate right now and I don’t think I’d miss not seeing that on it,” she said.
The third commissioner, James Quello, could not be reached for comment. Patrick’s office had no comment on the reports.
The commission was expected to vote in two to three months to drop the proposal.
A decision to scrap the plan would be a victory for the hundreds of thousands of computer users who dial into data bases such as CompuServe and QuantumLink for a variety of information services, like news stories and financial reports, and electronic communication with other users.
May Delay Legislation
Users of these services flooded the FCC and Capitol Hill with thousands of letters opposing the plan, which would add about $4.50 an hour to the cost of hooking up to information services.
They said the increased charges, which would double the hourly hookup price for some information services, would drive many of them off the computer networks and crush a fledgling industry.
Rep. Edward J. Markey, (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce telecommunications subcommittee, said that in light of the commission’s apparent reversal on the proposal he would delay indefinitely introduction of a bill preventing the FCC from imposing the access charges.
But Markey said, the panel “will closely monitor the commission’s actions to ensure that these onerous charges do not re-emerge in a new form.”
The FCC had proposed extending to computer users the same access charges now paid by long-distance companies for access to the local phone network. But the commission found virtually no support for the proposal, and users warned that the charges could strangle a new industry.
