Let State Agency Decide Phone Issues

Washington’s legislators can’t even agree on how to achieve efficiencies and a customer-service mentality in state government. So why on earth should consumers trust them to mess around with the telephone industry?

US West, GTE, AT&T, MCI and other corporate titans are fighting for market share - and your money. None is above using government’s power for competitive advantage.

During the past year, for example, US West lobbyists blitzed Washington’s Legislature for a bill to extend that company’s dominance as a “local area” service provider and to inhibit the state’s utility regulators from opening the door to competition.

The bill was passed. But Gov. Mike Lowry vetoed it, rightly arguing that decisions of this kind ought to remain in the hands of the state Utilities and Transportation Commission.

Now, US West hopes legislators will override Lowry’s veto. Why the rush? Why short-circuit the Utilities and Transportation Commission? It is poor policy to substitute the judgment of politicians for the judgment of the commission, a non-partisan agency which has pressed the telephone industry toward the blessings of competition and consumer choice and which possesses the expertise and investigative power to weigh corporate agendas against public interests.

What’s in it for you, the consumer? Lower rates and more convenient dialing for short-haul long-distance - for example, calls from Spokane to the Tri-Cities or from St. John to Colfax, Wash. What’s at risk for consumers? The cost of basic non-long-distance service.

Local service providers such as US West do have competitors in the short-haul long-distance market, but to use the competitors’ services and get their lower rates, consumers first must dial a fivedigit code for each call. Without that inconvenient code requirement for its competitors, US West fears it would lose market share for this very lucrative type of service. And the company contends such a loss would force it to raise basic phone rates. Is that true? If so, would competition still be worth it?

A reliable answer can come only from an agency with the powers of the Utilities and Transportation Commission. Busy legislators, who can be swayed by political pressures, campaign gifts and lobbyists’ rhetoric, risk betraying consumer interests if they try to decide an issue this complex.

Thanks to Lowry’s veto, if it stands, the Utilities and Transportation Commission can spend the next year investigating.

Meanwhile, telephone service nationwide is moving toward increased competition. So far, competition has improved both service and prices in telecommunications. The Legislature, which needs to achieve the same thing in government, should not obstruct this beneficial trend.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board