Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : MDA - Market Direction Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Les H who wrote (14459)	5/20/1999 10:49:00 AM
From: Vitas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 99985

Wednesday May 19, 6:13 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: Bell Atlantic Bell Atlantic Responds to Massachusetts DTE Decision on Reciprocal Compensation Fees Commission Decision Avoids Internet Tax on All Telephone Users BOSTON, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- BACKGROUND -- The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy (DTE) today confirmed the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) February ruling that all calls to the Internet are interstate and not local calls. Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, communications companies pay each other for completing local calls made by their competitors' customers. The following response should be attributed to Robert Mudge, vice president of Bell Atlantic-Massachusetts. This is a pro-consumer decision. In doing what the law requires, the DTE today plugged what it characterized as a ''loophole'' that would have resulted in an Internet tax on all telephone users in Massachusetts. Had the DTE not acted, Massachusetts telephone subscribers could easily have ended up paying more than $150 million per year. That equates to a $2.80 monthly tax on every phone line for Bell Atlantic's customers -- whether they use the Internet or not. The facts are simple. A handful of opportunistic middlemen pocketed millions of dollars in charges they were assessing against Bell Atlantic to which they were not lawfully entitled. When Bell Atlantic balked at paying these charges which would increase local telephone rates, the middlemen sought protection from the DTE. Today's decision stops these payments and requires the parties to negotiate. Their claim that Internet fees would increase if the loophole were closed was, and is, pure nonsense. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) generally charge about $20-$25 per month regardless whether they use Bell Atlantic, another local exchange carrier, or one of these other companies. The DTE said it best, ''The Internet is powerful enough to stand on its own, without ... subsidies.'' SOURCE: Bell Atlantic