Earthlink Speaks Out on Telco Merger
October 12, 2006 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Internet service provider Earthlink (earthlink.net) released a statement on Thursday regarding the closing of the investigation of AT&T’s (att.com) acquisition of BellSouth (bellsouth.com), requesting that the FCC re-affirm the pro-consumer measures of similar transactions in the past.
“Last year’s mega-merger of AT&T and SBC was conditioned on pro-competition measures insisted upon by the Justice Department and the FCC,” says Chris Putala, executive vice president of public policy for EarthLink. “Today, the Justice Department abandoned consumers and small businesses by refusing to require even those modest protections on the proposed AT&T- BellSouth merger, the largest telecommunications merger in American history. As a unanimous FCC did less than a year ago, the FCC should insist that the public interest is protected with meaningful pro-consumer conditions.”
For the FCC’s pending consideration of the AT&T-BellSouth merger, EarthLink has requested that it re-affirm the pro-consumer measures it required of the AT&T-SBC and Verizon-MCI mergers, including net neutrality to keep the Internet free from discrimination, “naked” DSL so consumers are not forced to buy regular phone company voice services when they purchase broadband, and maintaining current regulations that protect facilities-based competition for consumers and small businesses.
The Atlanta-based EarthLink serves more than 5 million subscribers, providing online products and services such as dial-up, high-speed, voice, Web hosting, wireless, home networking and security.
