CWA warns Verizon cable deal could end competition

Allowing proposed multibillion-dollar airwave deals between Verizon Wireless and several cable operators could mean the end of a competitive telecommunications landscape, saddling consumers with higher prices and diminished choice, the Communications Workers of America told the Federal Communications Commission. Debbie Goldman, CWA's telecommunications policy director, said that the alliance between the nation's largest wireless carrier and the top cable companies would essentially end competition in the telecommunications arena. "The detail of how it will do that is in these commercial agreements that are behind a firewall that the public cannot see," Goldman said of the largely redacted documents submitted to the FCC for review by Verizon Wireless and the cable operators.