For Immediate Release: June 18, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Today, a group of former California PUC Commissioners commended the Solicitor General for letting stand a recent court order that will help end harmful telecom regulations. The Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank in San Francisco, agrees that telecom reform is much needed and applauds the former commissioners for speaking out.

The text of the former Commissioners’ statement follows.

Former California PUC Commissioners G. Mitchell Wilk, Josiah L. Neeper, Henry M. Duque, and Richard A. Bilas Applaud Federal Decisions on the Triennial Review Order as Positive for the Telecommunications Industry and Consumers

As former Commissioners of the California Public Utilities Commission, we welcome the decisions by the Solicitor General and the Federal Communications Commission not to appeal the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ order regarding telephone leasing rules. After eight years of litigation, finally conforming these rules to the law will benefit competition and consumers, and provide needed certainty to the industry.

Thanks to technology and pro-competitive laws, consumers have more choices today than ever. Local phone service alternatives are provided by multiple wireless networks (to which over half of all Americans subscribe), by cable telephony, and increasingly by voice-over-Internet protocol services (VoIP) that turn the Internet into an economical and flexible phone network accessible almost anywhere. By contrast to these new, alternative technologies, the argument over telephone leasing rules is a fight over the old phone network and business plans written based on regulatory rules. This experiment has produced nothing in the way of innovative services or the rapid deployment of new networks; and, in fact, may even have discouraged investment in new technologies.

As the FCC has urged, there is now a great opportunity for rival companies to reverse the prolonged litigious course and negotiate voluntary wholesale leasing arrangements on commercial business terms. Their efforts are better spent on discovering ways to deliver greater value and genuine cost savings to consumers rather than on costly litigation and political lobbying.

Thus, contrary to some of the rhetoric that has recently been on display, we see a bright future for consumers as a result of the thoughtful choice of Federal authorities to accept the judicial verdict on these rules. This decision was clearly the correct choice for promoting the competitive interests of consumers that we worked so hard to advance during our respective terms as regulators of this industry.

 

• Richard A. Bilas
  Former Commissioner and President, California Public Utilities Commission
  
• Henry M. Duque
  Former Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission
  
• Josiah L. Neeper
  Former Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission
  
• G. Mitchell Wilk
  Former Commissioner and President, California Public Utilities Commission

 

About PRI
For more than two decades, the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy (PRI) has championed individual liberty through free markets. PRI is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the principles of limited government, individual freedom, and personal responsibility.