Bell Atlantic President blames telco woes on FCC

Bell Atlantic Corp. President Ivan Seidenberg lashed out at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today telling it to get off phone companies' backs so they can offer more data services at lower prices.

In his keynote ComNet address, Seidenberg said Bell Atlantic would offer new technologies such as digital subscriber line (DSL) faster if the company were not shackled by FCC rules designed to regulate voice phone service.

Because Bell Atlantic is unable to offer long-distance services within its region, the company does not invest in regional backbones for long-distance data services to compete on price with offerings from other carriers. That increased competition ultimately would be good for customers, he said.

Such a network could put Bell Atlantic in a position to influence the performance of the Internet by providing a less congensted path for Internet traffic to travel.

But because of FCC restrictions on long distance to the Internet, Bell Atlantic cannot invest in a backbone for Internet traffic.

Seidenberg's remarks came after Bell Atlantic earlier this week filed for the FCC to lift some of its restrictions on Bell Atlantic that also apply to the other regional Bell operating companies.

The company seeks freedom to offer long-distance broadband services. It also asks that DSL be excluded from rules that force Bell Atlantic to sell use of its DSL switching office hardware to competitors. And it seeks permission to act as an Internet service provider, without setting up a separate subsidiary to do so.

With a separate ISP subsidiary, Bell Atlantic would have to buy and sell services between it and the parent company, needlessly complicating the ISP business and creating a competitive advantage for ISPs.

Bell Atlantic's goal, Seidenberg said, was to offer customers as broad an offering of services as possible wrapped up in custom-priced packages.

The company is making similar requests in individual states within the Bell Atlantic region.