FCC Chairman Says Phone Firms Need Fewer Restrictions
American Telephone & Telegraph and the seven “Baby Bell” regional phone companies should enjoy greater freedom to offer new services and make telecommunications equipment, according to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
Taking aim at the 1982 settlement agreement that led to the breakup of the old Bell System in 1984, Alfred C. Sikes said some of the limitations imposed on the former monopoly are today “bad public policy and should be changed.”
Sikes, in remarks to reporters and testimony before the House telecommunications subcommittee, added, however, that safeguards to protect emerging competition should accompany any changes. But, he warned, telephone customers in such countries as France, West Germany and Japan now enjoy services not generally available in this country because of court-imposed restrictions.
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