Telcos Need 'Naked’ DSL

[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Within one year, SBC and Verizon must offer customers high-speed Internet access without requiring them to also buy phone service (an offering called "naked DSL"). The companies must offer the service for two years. But the FCC, which made the offering a condition of recent merger approvals for the two companies, has no plans to regulate the a la carte price of DSL. Without price caps, SBC and Verizon are free to price naked DSL so high that customers would overwhelmingly purchase a less expensive voice-data bundle by default. Consumer advocates were disappointed about the lack of price controls on naked DSL. “Clearly, we would have wanted stronger pricing provisions,” said Mark Cooper, research director of the Consumer Federation of America. The FCC plans to examine the effect of the naked DSL condition in an annual report. “I hope we will have the good sense to find it anti-competitive if the price for standalone DSL is not significantly less than the price for bundled voice and DSL,” FCC Commissioner Copps said.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6281547.html?display=Policy
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