The Ohio Office of Consumer Counsel asked the Public Utilities Co...
The Ohio Office of Consumer Counsel asked the Public Utilities Commission to reconsider its June decision to grant AT&T basic exchange pricing flexibility in eight communities, saying it allowed AT&T to increase stand-alone basic exchange rates when there’s no…
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competition for stand-alone basic exchange service. The OCC said AT&T’s competitors in Barnesville, Belfast, Dresden, East Liverpool, Harrisburg, Lewisville, St. Clairsville and Salineville offer basic exchange only as part of service bundles, not as a stand- alone offering. The OCC said AT&T had full pricing flexibility for bundled services under previous PUC orders, so it didn’t need the June order’s flexibility to match its competition. The June order allowed AT&T to raise basic exchange rates up to $1.25 annually and caller ID rates up to 50 cents annually. The OCC (Case 07-259-TP-BLS) said the PUC acted on the basis of line loss and market share tests that said nothing about whether AT&T’s line losses were the result of stand-alone basic exchange competition or other factors and failed to determine whether equivalent competitive alternatives were available to all customers affected by the PUC order.