AT&T and the Ill. Citizens’ Utility Board reached agreement on a ...
AT&T and the Ill. Citizens’ Utility Board reached agreement on a retail rate deregulation proposal for the Chicago metro area that would trade rate deregulation for universal broadband availability throughout the city and its suburbs within 4 years. The…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
proposal, which requires approval from the Ill. Commerce Commission, would freeze rates on residential basic services for 4 years for roughly 2.5 million customers, while other service rates are priced to market. In return, AT&T would have to make DSL available on 99% of Chicago-area access lines by 2010, and set up a $2.5 million consumer education fund. AT&T last fall asked the Commerce Commission to deregulate all retail rates in metro Chicago; this proposal would settle that case. But the Ill. Attorney General’s Office says the proposal would lock in basic service rates at a time when costs are declining, and said basic service rates should be cut, not frozen. Other parties -- including the commission’s staff, City of Chicago and Cook County -- still must weigh in on the proposal. The CUB, however, said the Chicago proposal will be better for consumers than the broad rate deregulation granted AT&T in neighboring states, which offered little rate protection for basic service customers.