CWA: Court Made Right Decision for Consumers, Workers, & Telecom Industry in Leveling the Competiti

Communications Workers of America President Morton Bahr issued the following statement following today's ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on "UNE-P" pricing of wholesale phone lines.

This decision sets U.S. telecommunications policy on the correct path, as envisioned by Congress in passing the Telecom Act, of stimulating technological innovation, preserving quality universal service, and creating new jobs in a vital, growing, competitive industry.

The requirement that the regulated local phone companies lease their phone lines to competitors at below-cost rates – insuring steady financial loss -- has tremendously handicapped these companies and stifled investment in service quality and in rolling out broadband and other services, particularly in smaller cities and rural areas.

And it has been devastating for the tens of thousands of telecommunications workers who have been laid off the last few years, and for the communities that have paid the price in shrinking tax bases and higher social service costs.

All of us are best served by a fair competitive telecommunications marketplace, which will spur investment and job creation at a time when our economy badly needs a boost.