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March 7, 1999, Sunday

SECTION: EDITORIAL & COMMENT , Pg. 2B

LENGTH: 579 words

HEADLINE: DON'T HANG UP;
DEAL MAY SPEED AMERITECH-SBC CONNECTION

BODY:

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio should approve the proposed merger of Ameritech and SBC Communications as soon as possible. To that end, the agreement that turned key Ohio critics of the plan into supporters is a welcome development.

Ameritech Ohio customers should note that the PUCO staff and Ohio Consumers' Counsel Robert S. Tongren are among the parties who signed a deal with the companies last month. The pact requires Chicago-based Ameritech and San Antonio-based SBC, if their merger occurs, to take a number of steps aimed at promoting local phone-service competition. The high praise of the consumers' counsel should help alleviate any fears Ohioans may have about the proposal, which would create a company that serves customers in 13 states and controls one-third of U.S. phone lines.

''This puts Ohio out front of any other state in terms of pushing the envelope for residential customers,'' Tongren said. ''If they fail to meet their obligations . . . dollars go back into customers' pockets.''

Among the more intriguing commitments Ameritech and SBC made is an agreement to pay $ 15 million to consumers if new competitors for local phone service fail to sign up 200,000 residential customers within four years.

In a free marketplace, such a concept is quite revolutionary. Can you imagine the Big Three automakers being denied the ability to sell cars unless they could guarantee the success of competitors?

In a truly free marketplace, the buyers - not government regulators - decide which products to use and which will wind up in the discount bins.

The Dispatch has criticized attempts by government officials to micromanage utilities rather than simply promote competition and let deregulation work.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 - in deregulating the telephone, cable-TV and related industries - aimed to end monopolies and bring Americans a wide array of services and sellers. The law hasn't worked entirely as intended because many of the players have focused on protecting their own turf.

Ameritech and SBC have made a good case that they need to combine forces to enter the global telecommunications marketplace and compete with those very corporations that want to block the union. The states and federal government should not hamstring U.S. businesses in their quest to meet the demands of customers around the world in the Information Age.

The Ameritech-SBC agreement with Ohio regulators includes a residential phone-rate freeze through Jan. 9, 2002, and a promise to begin competing for local phone services in Delaware County, Cincinnati and two other areas of the state.

As The Dispatch has said before, the merger offers benefits for both companies and their employees, stockholders and customers.

A quick resolution of this issue is in the best interests of Ohioans. State regulators should not become impediments to constructive business deals.

The marriage of Ameritech and SBC has to be blessed by the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission and is being reviewed by Illinois regulators.

Of the states where the companies do business, only Ohio and Illinois have laws that require government regulators to examine merger proposals. Unfortunately, a deal in Illinois similar to the one reached in Ohio so far has seemed unlikely.

Still, Ohio's progress may help add impetus to the effort in Illinois to address concerns and keep the Ameritech-SBC plan on track.

LOAD-DATE: March 9, 1999

Document 692 of 784.


Search Terms: telecommunications act of 1996
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