councilor.org
| Source | James Love |
| Date | 99/05/01/02:22 |
| > /* Written 4:14 PM Mar 10, 1998 by love@cptech.org in igc:list.roundtabl */ > /* ---------- "Statement by Ralph Nader on Worldco" ---------- */ > > Statement by Ralph Nader on Worldcom/MCI merger > March 10, 1998 > > > We have asked the Department of Justice to stop the > Worldcom/MCI merger. The merger would hurt consumers in > many ways, and would offer them no benefits whatsoever. It > would make long distance telephone service less competitive > than it is today. Among other things, the market segment > served by discount resellers would be harmed by the merger. > > Secondly, and perhaps more important, the merger would give > a single telephone company control over half or more of > Internet backbone services. Worldcom and MCI have both > said they want to impose new usage based pricing on > Internet backbone services. This did not happen in the > competitive market, but experts say it will be more likely > once a single firm wields far more control over the > Internet's backbone. Worldcom is already being accused of > a number of anticompetitive practices in Internet peering, > and this would give Worldcom even more power to eliminate > small ISPs who now compete with Worldcom. > > There are many reasons to oppose the merger. There is no > reason to support the merger. The FCC and the Department > of Justice need to stop this merger cold, so consumers > can benefit from competition, rather than suffer > unnecessarily from monopoly. > > > -- > James Love > Consumer Project on Technology > P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036 > love@cptech.org | http://www.cptech.org/ > 202.387.8030, fax 202.234.5176 |
Copyright (c) 1998, Joongpil Cho