June 11, 2004 – Tens of millions of phone users will face significantly higher monthly fees and cuts in services after the Bush administration sided with the so-called Baby Bell companies -- the four large telecommunications monopolies SBC, Qwest, BellSouth and Verizon -- in an eight-year-old battle over competition and discount rates. The administration said it would support a court order which throws out rules allowing local telephone companies to lease phone lines from the Bells at deeply discounted rates -- which in turn lower the price of service for people across the US. The dramatic rewriting of the rules governing telecommunications in the U.S. will engender higher prices (through less competition) for telephone users and cement the monopoly of the four Bell companies.
