Letter to the Editor:

Your editorial ("Dial PUC for higher phone bills,'' Opinion, Sept. 20) has the perspective of someone who's been hiding in a cave for the last five years.

Anyone involved in the technology industry knows that the real competition incumbent phone carriers face is not from competitive local exchange carriers, but from cable, satellite and wireless. The idea that adjusting price caps is somehow going to raise phone rates is completely wrong. Competitive pressures from new technologies, like Voice over Internet Protocol and wireless, will keep prices low.

It's time to come out of the cave and stop promoting polices that harm consumers and innovation.

Sonia Arrison
Director of Technology Studies
Pacific Research Institute
San Francisco