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Plan: $5 more for phone bill
By ANITA KUMAR, Times Staff Writer TALLAHASSEE -- Monthly telephone bills in the Tampa Bay area would rise by $5 over the next five years as part of a controversial proposal steadily moving through the Legislature. In turn, customers would get a break on long distance calls within Florida so that phoning Miami will no longer cost more than phoning New York. Supporters say the changes will promote competition among local phone companies so that within two years consumers could have several options, as they already have with long distance companies. Maybe even lower rates. The telecommunications industry, which isn't supposed to make any money off the proposal, insists the average consumer will break even. But consumer advocates and Attorney General Bob Butterworth worry that people who have only basic phone service and rarely call long distance will pay more. "I have doubts," said Butterworth, who is monitoring the legislation. "I am very concerned that residents and small business are going to lose." Consumer advocates also worry that long-distance companies will not keep their promise to lower rates for a significant period of time. There is no guarantee against that in the legislation. "There is no requirement that they have to continue to (offer) the reductions for weeks, months or years," said Mike Twomey, executive director of Florida Utility Watch, a consumer group in Tallahassee. He said AT&T was supposed to provide savings after a 1998 change but then began charging a $1.95 flat fee for long distance in Florida last year. The proposal passed a Senate committee Wednesday and now heads to the full Senate. A similar bill will be heard today in a House committee. Sen. Skip Campbell, D-Fort Lauderdale, who sponsored the bill and runs the Senate Regulated Industries committee, says the bill would help most phone customers, though he acknowledges it could hurt some. "We're trying not to kill the consumer," he said. "We tried to write a bill that would be equitable." Only Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, who was lobbied by phone companies at a recent dinner at an exclusive downtown establishment, voted against the bill. "I was unmoved by the arguments," he said. "I don't believe it's designed to increase competition." Senators were lobbied by both local and long-distance companies, who packed the meeting room Wednesday. But only a few people were allowed to speak before the committee ran out of time and hurried through the vote. The Legislature opened up the local market to competition in 1995 but capped rates from 1995 to 2000 for most companies and 2001 for the state's largest company, BellSouth. The proposal requires the three largest local phone companies -- Verizon, BellSouth and Sprint -- to reduce the fees they charge long distance companies for access to their networks. Local fees would rise for residential and small business -- those with just a single phone line -- but not big businesses, which telephone companies say already pay more than their fair share. Verizon, which has 2-million customers in the Tampa Bay area, estimates it would increase the monthly fee by $1 every year for five years. The legislation does allow more low-income Floridians to be eligible for discounts for phone service, up to $12 on monthly bills. Companies could continue to ask for rate changes through the Public Service Commission as usual at 1 percent less than the inflation rate every year.
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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