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LOUIS HAUAbout 60 show up for a hearing in Tampa on basic phone rates. About 30 speak, and of them about two-thirds oppose an increase.
TAMPA - Marty Altner of Safety Harbor waited patiently for nearly 31/2 hours to speak out Friday at a hearing on the sharp increases that Verizon and other phone companies want in their local basic rates.
When it was finally his turn, Altner, 56, raised his voice in contempt for the phone companies' assurances that the rate hikes permitted under a new state law would pay off in lower long distance bills and expanded competition.
"These guys wrote the bill," he said of the phone companies, waving his right hand in the air. "And somehow there's no guarantees for any one of these (benefits) in the bill. Well, big surprise. Big surprise."
He said the rate increases would hurt tenants in the apartments he owns and manages in working class neighborhoods in Clearwater, Palm Harbor and Dunedin.
Not all of the roughly 60 Tampa Bay area residents attending Friday's hearing were quite as pointed as Altner. But of about 30 people who spoke at the hearing, sentiment against the phone rate increases ran about two-to-one.
The hearing is one of at least 14 that the Florida Public Service Commission has scheduled to collect public comment on the proposals for increases in basic monthly rates of 30 to 90 percent from Verizon, Sprint and BellSouth. The PSC has scheduled a hearing in St. Petersburg City Hall at 6 p.m. Oct. 23, a day earlier than originally planned.
The state law permits the companies to apply for sharp increases in their local phone rates in exchange for corresponding cuts in the instate access fees they charge long distance carriers.
Presiding over Friday's hearing at the Hillsborough County Center in Tampa were PSC chairman Lila Jaber and commissioners Rudy Bradley and Terry Deason. Also attending was Attorney General Charlie Crist.
Alan Ciamporcero, Verizon's southeast regional president, said the local rate increases were needed to inject the same level of competition and innovation in the home phone market that already exists in the market for wireless phone service.
"These changes will promote competition and benefit consumers and the economy," he said.
Such arguments were dismissed by DeMaris Marsh, an 84-year-old Brandon resident and an advocacy organizer for AARP, the senior citizen group that is strongly against the rate hikes. "I would like to stay with Verizon and have the good service they've had in the past at present rates because I do not feel that I will benefit at all from this increase," she said.
"I was thinking of going back to smoke signals," quipped 67-year-old Dorothy Royal of St. Petersburg.
If Verizon needs more revenue, it should simply increase fees on optional services, such as high-speed Internet connections, that won't affect all customers, said 39-year-old Tampa attorney Gary Dolgin. "With local phone service, that's a necessity," he said.
Charles Hubbard, a 51-year-old Seffner resident who lives on a fixed income, had a warning for the phone companies: "I can tell you this, Verizon and Sprint and the rest of them, that if this increase goes through, you will lose $461.04 a year from me because I will cut off your service and just use my cell phone."
Those who spoke in favor of the rate increases said they would fuel further technological advances and draw more companies into the Florida phone market, benefiting the state economically.
Ana Cruz, a 30-year-old advertising and marketing consultant in Tampa, said she supported the "nominal price increases" sought by Verizon because it is her belief they will lead to new technologies and better rates. "This rate proposal is a minimal price to move forward," she said.
Mike Meidel, president of the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce, said loosening the state's regulation of phone rates would give customers more choices.
"We're trying to switch from one world to another," the 44-year-old Meidel said, stressing that he wasn't speaking on behalf of the chamber.
Two state legislators who voted against the new phone regulations, Sen. Mike Fasano and Rep. Heather Fiorentino, both Republicans from New Port Richey, urged the commissioners to reject the rate increases.
Scoffing at the phone companies' argument that higher rates will attract more competition, Fasano asked, "Does anybody in this room believe that BellSouth, Verizon and Sprint would hire hundreds of lobbyists and spend millions of dollars to bring competition on themselves?"
- Louis Hau can be reached at hau@sptimes.com or 813 226-3404.