Jack Decker (jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request) Tue, 10 May 2005 10:09:36 -0400

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http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=2BB6940A-C7DB-4C00-BDED-62115F6C129A Concerns over the competitive impact of the proposed mergers of AT&T and SBC Communications and MCI and Verizon Communications are increasing, with BT Group and the New York attorney general among the latest object. 10 May 2005, 09:38 GMT - BT met with US Federal Communications Commission staff late last week to ask the regulator block the two mergers, saying that they would create a "classic duopoly" in the telecommunications market, and consolidate control of the internet backbone. The UK incumbent carrier said the mergers "will significantly impede effective competition, resulting in higher prices, lower quality and reduced innovation for business customers", according to a FCC filing released yesterday AT&T is being acquired by SBC for $16bn, while Verizon is currently the approved frontrunner to pick up MCI for $8.5bn, a drastic consolidation of the US carrier market that needs separate regulatory approval before they can be closed. According to BT, allowing the SBC-AT&T merger would give the merged company the ability to "abuse its dominance" over the local loop. This would be compounded, the company said, by a simultaneous Verizon-MCI deal. [.....] New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, known as one of the fiercest consumer rights activists in elected office in the US, did not object to the mergers outright, but asks the FCC consider two potential problems that mirror BT's concerns. First, Spitzer said Verizon should be forced to offer naked DSL, that is broadband internet connectivity without the requirement to take phone service, if it buys MCI. It should also be dissuaded from preferentially routing IP over MCI's internet backbone, Spitzer said. Combined, BT's "duopoly" would control over half of the internet's backbone assets, Spitzer claimed. Also expressing some concern over the deals is Vonage Holdings, the private company that is becoming a bit of a player in the voice over IP space. Full story at: http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=2BB6940A-C7DB-4C00-BDED-62115F6C129A

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