Qwest Seeks Five Merger Conditions

Even as the FCC appears to be nearing approval of two major telecommunication mergers, Qwest Communications International is urging the agency and the Justice Department to impose five conditions on both combinations. The merged entities should have to divest competing telecommunications within their respective regions and should be prohibited from discriminating in favor of themselves, their newly acquired affiliates and each other, Qwest contends. SBC and Verizon should have to offer stand-alone high-speed Internet service over digital subscriber lines without customers having to purchase telephone service from the same company – so-called naked DSL. The goal would be to help "some other firm [that] might replicate the VoIP [voice-over-Internet protocol] threat previously offered by AT&T and MCI," the company said in a list of its five recommendations. The Qwest officials also said the FCC and the Justice Department should require the telecom giants to "reduce their prices to levels that would have been compelled through future competition from AT&T and MCI" and that "SBC and Verizon must not be allowed to refuse customer requests to move services to an SBC or Verizon competitor."
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-QHES1129153979670.html