FCC Likely to Loose Reins on Baby Bells

The Federal Communications Commission today is expected to move toward giving the regional Bell telephone companies greater freedom to offer special deals to their biggest customers. The Bells have increasingly complained of growing competition for high-end services and four of the companies over the last year asked the FCC to lift the agency’s price controls and allow them to craft one-of-a-kind package deals. The FCC is scheduled to vote on a set of standards that measure competition for high-end services such as a high-capacity telephone line connecting two offices of a corporation or a line connecting a business directly to a long distance provider. The plan is expected to set out various thresholds for competition, based on statistics such as how many competitors have located their own equipment in a Bell company switching office. As more competition develops, the Bells would be allowed greater pricing flexibility until finally all price controls could be removed.