Qwest highlighted the positive Monday after the Federal Communications Commission decided to approve the mergers of SBC and AT&T and Verizon and MCI.
“By imposing meaningful conditions on the plans of SBC and Verizon to acquire their largest competitors, the FCC has reaffirmed its commitment to open and competitive telecommunications markets,” a Qwest statement said.
But the FCC stopped short of requiring any asset sales by the merged companies, which could have provided Denver-based Qwest an opportunity to buy access lines in attractive markets.
After Verizon outbid Qwest last spring for MCI, Qwest chief executive Richard Notebaert said he was interested in acquiring overlapping access lines that the FCC might require the merging companies to sell.
Qwest said the FCC merger conditions keep the new companies from raising prices or lowering the quality of essential services they provide to competitors, from discriminating against their competitors, and from imposing restrictions on customers to keep them from transferring their service.
“These three actions will increase the likelihood that other firms will be able to fill the competitive gap created by the elimination of AT&T and MCI from the competitive landscape,” Qwest said.
SBC and Verizon will also have to freeze prices on “naked DSL” for two years, meaning companies offering Internet data lines to customers without requiring them to sign up for phone service.
“Other companies were worried that (merged companies) would keep the Internet services between them and leave everyone else out,” said Donna Jaegers, an analyst with Janco Partners. “The FCC made a ruling that they have to stay peered with the same partners.”
At Time Warner Telecom in Douglas County, the merger approvals do not affect the company’s strategy of focusing on business customers, said spokesman Bob Meldrum.
He said Time Warner Telecom will be one of the largest competitors to the two merged companies.
“That puts us in a very good position to offer next-generation services to our current customers,” Meldrum said.
Staff writer Beth Potter can be reached at 303-820-1503 or bpotter@denverpost.com.
