Bell firms to get data-services opening, but long-distance, gear curbs upheld

Article Abstract:

A three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit gives regional Bell companies another chance to persuade US District Court Judge Harold Greene to let them enter into information services businesses. The appeals court says a wrong legal standard was originally applied. At the same time, the appeals court panel upholds Judge Greene's decision to prevent Bell companies from entering into long-distance services and telecommunication equipment manufacturing. Laurence Tribe, a constitutional specialist at Harvard Law School says: 'We read this as a strong signal to the district court that there is no basis for keeping this ban (information services) in place.' The American Newspaper Publishers Association, a Bell opponent, says prohibition on Bell entry into electronic publishing is 'good public policy.'

Information retrieval services, Cases, Beliefs, opinions and attitudes, Electronic publishing, Electronic Publishing Industry, Court Cases, American Newspaper Publishers Association, Tribe, Laurence

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Baby Bells grow up: they await a key ruling before resuming their lobbying effort to win freedom from Judge Greene's control

Article Abstract:

Baby Bell telephone companies have both irritated and influenced Congress, attempting to convince Congress that telephone companies should be deregulated and should be allowed to sell computer-based information services and manufacture telecommunications equipment. Ultimately, they would like to enter the cable TV business as well. Ever since the Bell system was broken up in 1984, the seven Bell regional holding companies have been controlled by federal Judge Harold Greene, and they want Judge Greene to relax restrictions he has imposed on them. Then, they want Congress to set them free by shifting jurisdiction over them from Judge Greene to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Various interest oppose phone company deregulation: cable companies, newspaper publishers, consumer groups and some major users.

Telephone communications, exc. radio, United States. Federal Communications Commission, Internet services, Cable television, Powers and duties, Cable Television/Data Services

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Two groups blast Bell companies' gloomy assessment

Article Abstract:

Economics and Technology Inc has prepared a study for the Consumer Federation of America and The International Communications Association that refutes the assertion, propagated by the Bell companies, that the US is becoming a second-rate telecommunications power. The study says the Bells' claim 'is little more than a transparent fiction,' noting that the US is far ahead of Japanese and European competitors. The study indicates that Bell companies have engaged in a disinformation campaign, trying to influence Congress to lift restrictions that prohibit Bell companies from participating in long-distance and information services, and from manufacturing communications equipment. The Bell companies reply that the Consumer Federation and the International Communications Association are misguided.

Communications Equipment, Research, Long distance telephone services, United States economic conditions, Long-distance telephone service, Foreign Competition, Consumer Federation of America, International Communications Association, Economics and Technology Inc.

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