XO calls for more regulation in Bell/IXC mergers

On the heels of the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s approval of the mergers between AT&T and SBC and between Verizon Communications and MCI, XO Communications proposed further regulatory restraints on the combined companies.

Though the competitive local exchange carrier, in a statement issued today, praised the Virginia SCC for preserving pre-merger terms and prices for wholesale services, XO suggested going further: guaranteeing competitive carriers the same prices for unbundled network elements (UNEs) over the next five years, recalculating the non-impaired Wire Center list for de-listed UNEs, removing AT&T and MCI as unaffiliated competitors and eliminating DS-1 loop and transport caps, which were conceived under the assumption of AT&T and MCI as competitors. XO also suggested business customers be allowed to opt out of current MCI and AT&T service contracts following the merger.

“Merger conditions need to be comprehensive in order to offset the real and inevitable harms of these mergers," Doug Kinkoph, XO's vice president of regulatory and external affairs, said in a statement. "We hope the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice, as well as other state commissions, will expand on the work of the Virginia SCC and place comprehensive merger conditions not only on the proposed [mergers]."