California Orders SBC to Split Phone, DSL Service

An anonymous reader points to this report at overclockersclub.com which begins "The great state of California has ruled that SBC Communications must sell local phone service and broadband service separately. This gives SBC customers the option to change local phone providers and/or choose any DSL company they wish."

Comments

It wasn't so long ago...

[fiannaFailMan]

that they were selling the benefits to the customer of only having one bill. I can see it now. "We're splitting your bill in two to better meet your needs."

But I like my bundle

[SteroidMan]

I could care less who me DSL/local/longdistance carrier is as long as it works reasonably well. If California gets rid of the discount for getting all 3 through SBC it would raise my bill by 40 bucks a month! Sometimes regulation is not worth the taxes we pay for it, and this is one case where I don't think anyone will save money (unless they are willing to put up with a great deal of angst).

Re:California

[steve buttgereit]

While I don't disagree necessarily on the move against SBC.... ...I have to say California is often times a step ahead of the country. A step ahead in mostly wrong, silly, stupid and self destructive ways.

Take the Gmail legislative initiatives here in good old CA. While SBC is for all practical purposes a legal monopoly, Google is not... especially for email. Yet our enlightened legislature still feels the need to regulate it to death. First step in the country, but totaly unnecessary and harmful to a California business known to employ many of the best and brightest.

So a step ahead... yes... we'll go over the cliff before everyone else.

Re:Nice ruling, but it won't matter

[Krow10]

The only way to create a level playing field is for the people who own the wires (SBC) to not be the ones selling DSL.

I was going to make a chidingly sarcastic remark along the lines of "a corporation using it's private property being unfair", but I really can't top what you already wrote.

You would have a point if SBC had layed the infrastructure on their own dime (instead of with taxpayer subsidy) or if any company could start running copper to the doorstep (you end up with cherry-picking, but that's why Ma Bell, the predecessor to SBC and the other RBOCs, was subsidised.) As it is, SBC and the other RBOCs have government protected and supported monopoly on telecom copper.

Ideally, what should happen, and I think this is what the grandparent is recommending, is that SBC be split into an Incumbent Local Exchange Company (ILEC) and a financially isolated Competative Local Exchange Company (CLEC). Then the ILEC (which would own the wire) can charge the CLEC (who would provide the services) whatever it wants.

The catch would be that the ILEC could not disriminate in either access to facilities or price to any other CLEC (and would really have no incentive to.) This was SNET (Connecticut's phone company) began implementing after the Telecom act of 1996. Then they were bought by SBC and I think that plan was scrapped. Competition is good, and currently, the presently discussed California ruling being a minor exception, we are moving away from that, IMO.

Cheers,
Craig

Re:California

[Dun Malg]

I have to say California is often times a step ahead of the country. A step ahead in mostly wrong, silly, stupid and self destructive ways.

Why did 'Proposition 13' suddenly spring to mind when I read that?

I don't know. Why? Do you think the state and local governments should be able to tax my grandmother's house at its appraised value of $200,000 rather than the $12,000 she paid for it forty years ago? Jacking up people's taxes based on a something they have no control over (housing prices) is ridiculous. Even when a corporation buys, say, a $1.5 million building and five years later it's worth $5 million, there's no rational justification for taxing them based on the $5M figure. Just because it's worth $5M doesn't mean the owner would be willing or even able to buy it at that price, were he buying it at that time.