Is Big Telecom Out Of Control?

Imagine a world in which there was only one telephone company. A world in which government passed laws to curb telecom competition. A world in which...hold on a minute! That's the world we used to live in before the breakup of Ma Bell. No worry about going back to those days, is there?

Unfortunately, the new world of telecommunications is starting to look suspiciously like the bad old days of Ma Bell. Telecom companies are gobbling up each other up so fast, it's hard to know how many will be left after the feeding frenzy.

At the same time, telecom and cable companies (which are increasingly one and the same) have pulled the strings of politicos to ban cities, towns and states from providing free WiFi and other telecommunications services.

All of this is bad for consumers and bad for business. The reason is very simple. It means less choice. Let's take the big telecom fish gobbling up the little telecom fish first. When Verizon or Qwest or whoever is the telecom choice du jour ends up buying MCI, it means that there's one less company looking for your business, one less company willing to provide better services at lower prices in order to get you as a customer. This is especially important because SBC, is in the midst of buying AT&T.

What should be done? The Justice Department should look very closely at whoever buys MCI, with an eye towards stopping the deal if it proves to be too anti-competitive.As for the telecom companies pulling the strings of politicians to outlaw municipalities from providing services like free WiFi, that's one of the most outrageous special interest giveaways I've heard of in some time. If a town or city wants to provide a telecom service, and its taxpayers agree, more power to them. It certainly shouldn't be made illegal, especially at a time when there are a shrinking number of big telecom companies from which cities and towns can choose.

To a certain extent, the telecom competition we've seen in the last few years has led to a sort of golden age of choice, where advanced services are being offered at increasingly lower prices. Let's make sure that continues by watching out for anti-competitive mergers, and not allowing the telecom companies to put politicians in their back pockets.