BellSouth ruling expected soon

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Posted 9:31AM on Tuesday, September 10, 2002

COLUMBIA - The Federal Communications Commission has until Sept. 18 to decide whether BellSouth can offer long-distance service in South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and North Carolina. If the FCC allows it, BellSouth would be able to compete with more than 70 companies already in that $800 million business in South Carolina. BellSouth executives say the company's entry will bring lower rates. "This will be a good thing for consumers," said Harry Lightsey III, president of BellSouth operations in South Carolina. "More competition means better prices and more services. That's what customers want." Georgia and Louisiana could offer an example of what's ahead. The FCC approved BellSouth's request May 15. Nine days later, BellSouth rolled out a series of new customer calling plans. "In the first five weeks after that, we gained 147,000 new customers," said BellSouth spokesman Joe Chandler in Atlanta. That's 4 percent of the telephone market in BellSouth's Georgia and Louisiana territories, but BellSouth is aiming higher with its "BellSouth State Talk Plan" in Georgia and Louisiana. "Within 12 to 18 months, we estimate that we could gain a 20 [percent] to 25 percent market share," Chandler said. In Georgia and Louisiana, BellSouth long-distance customers pay $9.95 per month to call anywhere in their state for 25 cents an hour. Out-of-state calls cost 12 cents a minute. But the FCC also is weighing BellSouth's competitors' concerns. They say the company has not done enough to let competitors challenge BellSouth's near-monopoly on local calls, one factor in the FCC's decision. They say BellSouth aims to re-establish a monopoly reminiscent of the old Bell System. "It's pretty clear that BellSouth has not opened its South Carolina market to competition," said David Arneke, regional spokesman for AT&T. "Competition flourishes in New York, for example, but not here." A recent FCC study found new competitive telephone companies service only 3 percent of all lines in South Carolina, compared with 25 percent in New York. BellSouth competitors also complain that the company sent ads to customers in South Carolina promoting long-distance service before winning federal approval. BellSouth says the ads were a mistake. Still, some customers are anxious for BellSouth to get into the long-distance business. Todd Eischeid, a partner in the Charleston-based Sticky Fingers restaurant chain, now uses a BellSouth competitor for both local and long-distance service. "If BellSouth gets long-distance, it could take the competitive advantage," Eischeid said. "It would lower our long-distance rates and give us better service."