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Net Neutrality 12-21-2006

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Open Letter on AT&T Merger to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin

To: FCC Chairman Kevin Martin
CC: WSJ Editorial Page
Date: 12/20/06
Re: AT&T Merger with Bell South, Net Neutrality or Why There Is Still No Phone Competition in Long Valley, NJ

Mr Martin,

I know it must be tough for you these days as the last check into this bad for consumer deal between the new, new, we swear we won’t do no evil AT&T and Bell South. Especially now that Robert McDowell decided to abstain from voting on the merger which results in a 2-2 tie between Republicans and Democrats at the FCC. Wow to think how billions hang in the balance between 4 people. That’s quite a challenge, so let me, as a 10 year veteran of the old and better AT&T give you some advice. Sure this is free, but if you study the downfall of AT&T you will realize that the current uncompetitive environment is much of a result of bad management by C. (how) Michael (bought Excite@Home and TCI high and sold them very low) Armstrong and lies and underdeliveries by the Baby Bells of the promised made in the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

I submit to you my recent experience with home service in beautiful Long Valley, NJ which is a mere 30 minutes via a country road to the old AT&T HQ and now the current Verizon HQ in Basking Ridge NJ.
[ . . . ]

Yes, I do believe in our economy, free markets, and that if all things being equal, competition will give consumers more choices and better prices. However, it doesn’t work when you allow each Baby Bell to have a virtual monopoly in their territory, resulting in no alternatives for consumers. Use your own experience and see if you can switch services. Competition doesn’t exist and this merger shouldn’t be allowed to go through without significant concessions.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Net Neutrality 12-20-2006

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Statemate Keeps At&T-BellSouth Merger Off of FCC’s Agenda (Washington Post)

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin said yesterday he did not know how soon it would consider AT&T’s proposed $86 billion acquisition of BellSouth . . .
[ . . . ]
One of the main obstacles is disagreement over whether to require a “net neutrality” condition that would bar AT&T from asking different Internet services to pay different prices for using its lines.

The entire story is available at WashingtonPost.com.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Net Neutrality 12-18-2006

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Information Policy

You’ve got to hand it to FCC General Counsel Sam Feder. His opinion that supposedly “clears” Commissioner Robert McDowell to participate in the AT&T takeover of BellSouth probably wasn’t what Chairman Kevin Martin had in mind.

The idea of the exercise was to put pressure on McDowell to jump into, presumably on the side of AT&T, and force Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein into a corner.
[ . . . ]
Feder’s opinion said nothing that should cause the Commissioner to change his view. The opinion made a tepid case at best for Commissioner McDowell to participate. Feder seemed to go out of his way to stress that it was McDowell’s decision to participate. The Feder memo said it was a “very, very close call” whether McDowell should take part, and that reasonable parties could disagree on a decision.

Want to know what you can do?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Net Neutrality 12-08-2006

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Net Neutrality Alert : FCC Chair Tries To Ram Thru ATT Merger

Imagine : a 5 minute wait for a Daily Kos page.

Imagine : that political blogs – perhaps the major channel now for political dissent in the United States – suddenly became hard, very slow, to access while corporate websites popped up in your browser quick as a corporate CEO robbing a pension fund.

Well, execs from the ATT and BellSouth Corporations that are seeking approval for a merger from the FCC have said they’d love to make that happen.

ACTION ITEM : Send Letter to your Congressperson or Senator protesting Kevin Martin’s attempts to violate FCC ethical guidelines and ram through an AAT/BellSouth merger that would threaten the Net Neutrality.

Media on this :

John Nichols in The Nation : http://www.freepress.net/19566

Josh Silver on the Huff Post : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-silver/latest-washington-ethics-_b_35706.html

Want to know what you can do?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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When Did AT&T Become Not For Profit? Was I Absent that Day?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Net Neutrality 12-06-2006

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The Unrecusal of Commissioner McDowell

The unseemly political pressure to try to force FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell to participate in the AT&T takeover of BellSouth is increasing with each hour. So far, McDowell has stuck to his decision not to participate because he recently represented CompTel before the Commission and because of ethics concerns from the Virginia Bar Association.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has sent a letter to Capitol Hill saying he’s asked the General Counsel, Sam Feder, to determine whether it’s possible for McDowell to participate, citing a 2000 precedent of then-Chairman Kennard having been authorized to break a 2-2 tie. AT&T sent a letter to the Commission saying that competitors are holding up the merger despite all that AT&T has been willing to concede. These two items, both dated Dec. 1, are of course related. Martin wants the merger, as does AT&T. They are also related in that each makes claims that don’t hold up under further scrutiny.

[ . . . ]

We have defined Net Neutrality all along as applying to the last mile. We don’t want any network provider to make a decision for a customer on how well a service or application will function based on a financial arrangement between the network company and the provider. It’s that simple. We have always endorsed the ability of companies to charge customers, whether residential or commercial, for the bandwidth they use. We wish the market were more competitive, but that’s another story. No one has talked about rates in terms of cost recovery. We use the term non-discrimination.

Want to know what you can do?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

When Did AT&T Become Not For Profit? Was I Absent that Day?

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Tom Evslin at Fractals of Change has been following Mr. Whitacre of AT&T more closely than I have. Tom’s detailed account of the merger with BellSouth is quite clearly focused. I’ve only pulled highlights. Read his analysis at at&t Blames Commercial Entities for FCC Delay.

Mr. Evslin’s report begins with the fact that the FCC has again delayed voting on AT&T’s merger/acquisition with/of BellSouth. He includes these lines from the NY Times in which AT&T is quoted as saying:

“While we regret that the merger has been delayed by the self-interest of commercial entities and their litany of unreasonable demands, we look forward to the F.C.C.’s approval so that we can get about the business of providing the overwhelming benefits the merger represents to consumers, to the economy and to the public interest.”

. . . we regret self-interest of commercial entities?

Excuse me? Are you implying you’re not part of that group? When did AT&T become not for profit? Was I absent that day? If you’re going to imply something untrue to me, please have the decency to be convincing.

Dear Mr. Whitacre, CEO of AT&T, first you said you will charge me and my destination to use “your pipes.” Now your company says that commercial entities are in the way of your “overwhelming benefits to the public interest.”

Tom Evslin says,

It’s the hypocrisy that’s annoying. Much more important is that this acquisition is significantly anti-competitive and is NOT in the public interest, far from it.

I have to agree with him.

Refusing emergency wireless voicemail access is only one in the list of things NOT “in the public interest” AT&T and BellSouth have done to date. MA Bell is back. Do read on. I missed most of this until Tom Evslin put it in one place.
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