[IP] Phone Users May Get None of Merger Savings
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 20, 2005 6:36:06 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Phone Users May Get None of Merger Savings
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Phone Users May Get None of Merger Savings
By James S. Granelli, Times Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Times reports that California regulators Wednesday
tentatively blessed two giant telephone industry mergers, but
customers won't see much of the billions of dollars the companies
expect to save. SBC Communications Inc.'s $16-billion acquisition of
AT&T Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc.'s $8.5-billion purchase of
MCI Inc. could reduce their expenses in the state by a combined total
of up to $2.7 billion, consumer advocates say. State law requires
phone companies to split any such savings with customers, as SBC did
when it bought Pacific Bell parent company Pacific Telesis Inc. in
1997. But draft decisions by Public Utilities Commission members
Susan P. Kennedy and Michael R. Peevey would exempt the companies
from that requirement, prompting outrage from consumer advocates.
<http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-
sbc20oct20,1,3528875.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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