XO Communications Statement on Virginia SCC Approval of Verizon-MCI Merger
08 October 2005 - 5:42AM
PR Newswire (US)
RESTON, Va., Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- XO Communications,
Inc. (OTC:XOCM.OB) (BULLETIN BOARD: XOCM.OB) today stated that it
is pleased that Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) imposed
wholesale pricing conditions on the proposed Verizon-MCI merger,
but disappointed that the SCC failed to adopt other critical
safeguards. The following statement is attributable to Doug
Kinkoph, XO's vice president of Regulatory and External Affairs:
"XO Communications is pleased that the Virginia SCC has attached
the important condition to its approval of the Verizon-MCI merger
requiring that certain intrastate and interstate wholesale services
continue to be offered at pre-merger rates, terms and conditions.
This condition will ensure that these rates are not immediately
increased following the merger." "The proposed Verizon-MCI and
SBC-AT&T mergers are bad for competition and bad for business
customers, so the SCC's condition on wholesale rates is a step in
the right direction. But it is only one step. Merger conditions
need to be comprehensive in order to offset the real and inevitable
harms of these mergers." "Federal regulators now reviewing the
mergers should take heed, and also consider the other equally
important conditions that XO has proposed, including, among others,
ensuring competitors have guaranteed access to unbundled network
elements at the same rates for five years; recalculation of the
non-impaired Wire Center List for de-listed UNEs, removing AT&T
and MCI as unaffiliated competitors; and, elimination of DS1 loop
and transport caps, which were based on the role of AT&T and
MCI as competitors, and will no longer apply after the mergers.
Lastly, business customers should have the right to take a "fresh
look" at current contracts with either AT&T or MCI, and to opt
out of those contracts if they prefer not to be served by the
monopoly phone company after the mergers." "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 Verizon-MCI merger, but on the proposed SBC-AT&T
merger, as well." About XO Communications XO Communications is a
leading provider of national and local telecommunications services
to businesses, large enterprises and telecommunications companies.
XO offers a complete portfolio of services, including local and
long distance voice, dedicated Internet access, private networking,
data transport, and Web hosting services as well as bundled voice
and Internet solutions. XO provides these services over an
advanced, national facilities-based IP network and serves more than
70 metropolitan markets across the United States. For more
information, visit http://www.xo.com/. DATASOURCE: XO
Communications, Inc. CONTACT: Chad Couser of XO Communications,
Inc., +1-703-547-2746, Mobile: +1-202-744-5815, ; or Jim Crawford
of Crawford PR, +1-703-753-4480, Mobile: +1-703-568-7101, , for XO
Communications, Inc. Web site: http://www.xo.com/
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