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| Association
of Communications Enterprises |
1401 K
Street, N.W. Suite 600 Washington, D.C. 20005 |
Phone:(202)
835-9898 Fax:(202) 835-9893 | |
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Contact: Celeste Powers Director of Public Affairs (202) 835-9898, ext.3015 cpowers@ascent.org | ||
| TRA Says SBC-Ameritech Merger
Conditions Will Slow, Not Speed Local Competition |
| (Washington, D.C., June 30, 1999) – The Telecommunications Resellers Association, one of the nation’s largest telecommunications trade groups, today sharply criticized the proposed merger conditions for SBC and Ameritech. TRA saw the conditions, which were made public yesterday by the Federal Communications Commission, as a “back door” effort by SBC, Ameritech and the other Bell Operating Companies to eliminate the open access requirements of the landmark 1996 Telecommunications Act. “While we have serious concerns with a number of the merger conditions,” said Ernie Kelly, TRA’s president, “clearly the first one, which requires the new company to provide advanced services through a separate affiliate, is the most troubling. We see advanced, or high-speed data services as the basic telephone service of the future. Competitive carriers and Internet service providers must offer these services if they hope to compete against such companies as SBC and America Online. But rather than giving competitive carriers and small ISPs greater access to advanced services, the separate affiliate condition actually would limit their availability. It erects a fifty-foot brick wall between small telecom carriers and the services they absolutely must have to battle the big guys.” Merger condition #1, as explained by the FCC, requires SBC-Ameritech to provide advanced services through a separate subsidiary. If this proposal is similar to past FCC recommendations, the separate affiliate would be exempt from the open access provisions of the 1996 Act. In other words, the affiliate would not have to make its services available to competitors at wholesale rates or through unbundled network elements. “If the separate subsidiary condition is approved, SBC-Ameritech would likely offer high-speed services only through a separate subsidiary,” Kelly continued, “because the subsidiary will be used to shield these services from competitors. And once SBC- Ameritech has the power to do this, Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, and US West will come knocking on the Commission’s door, saying ‘me too.’” “The only saving grace,” Kelly concluded, “is that these merger conditions are still in the proposal stage. TRA and other groups on the competitive side of the industry will be working overtime to make changes that will benefit small competitors and, ultimately, consumers.” |
 Association of Communications Enterprises (ASCENT) - http://www.ascent.org/ - is the leading trade organization of entrepreneurial communications firms and their suppliers. ASCENT member companies provide a full range of communications services utilizing narrowband, broadband and wireless technologies. They share a common desire for new business opportunities, technological innovation, managerial excellence, and adherence to high ethical standards. ASCENT's mission is to open all communications markets to full and fair competition and to help member companies design and implement successful business plans. Formerly the Telecommunications Resellers Association (TRA), ASCENT was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. |