The big business news of the week is, of course, the announcement of plans for AT&T (nee SBC) to acquire BellSouth, thus going a long way towards reconstructing the old AT&T national behemoth.
Public feedback seems to involve concerns around whether this will reduce competition / foster abuse of monopoly power, and the potential for the combined entity to increase efficiencies through its new 800 lb. gorilla size.
I’m not opposed to the deal. However, when the public comment period begins, I do plan to submit a request to address one pet peeve of mine with the status quo:
AT&T (formerly SBC, formerly SNET) will not sell naked DSL in my neck of the woods. (”Naked DSL” = providing DSL without requiring voice landline service). We also have no alternative local telephone providers…and I happen to live in an area where digital cable/cable modem and cellular service are both flaky.
In other words, AT&T (or whoever they are this week) can charge me whatever it wants for local telephone service, and I’m more-or-less obliged to pay.
I would love to have the option to change to VOIP — I’d have additional flexibility in service options, and I would have some recourse if AT&T just decided on a whim to jack up landline rates. However, there’s currently no way that it’s economically feasible for me to do so. If I want broadband net access, I’ve got to first pay for the local landline.
So, in the interest of promoting competition and consumer flexibility…I think approval of the deal should be contingent on making naked DSL service available.