U.S. PIRG Consumer Blog: Big Baby Bells Fighting Locals On Broadband

Today's Wall Street Journal (23 June 05) has an important front page story on the Baby Bell campaign to prevent municipal competition for hooking up to the Internet. It's an important battle. As we and other consumer groups often point out: Cities have long provided our roads and streets for commerce, and providing onramps to our information superhighway is just as important a government task.

"Phone Giants Are Lobbying Hard
To Block Towns' Wireless Plans" (Subscription required)describes state by state attempts by the Big Baby Bells to preempt localities from installing local broadband. After losing a battle in its home state of Texas, SBC has turned to its former Vice-President, U.S. Rep Pete Sessions, to propose draconian federal legislation, HR 2726, which would virtual eliminate municipal competition. The article also details how Issue Dynamics, a PR firm closely associated with SBC's fellow monopolist, Verizon, has created a "think tank" known as the New Millenium Research Council, to hoist views favorable to the Bell worldview before the public. IDI even details the strategy as a reason to buy its services, on its website. For more on state PIRG work on media issues, and on our opposition to the Verizon/MCI and SBC/AT&T mergers designed to put Ma Bell back together again, see our PIRG media pages.