Beckett Park nearly finished
Marshall vs. Valley View
Chaminade Julienne vs. Monroe
Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2010 > June > 03 > Entry
Telecom bill clears House
Ohio lawmakers pushed through a bill to overhaul how telephone companies are regulated, despite opposition from consumer groups who say it’ll wipe out consumer protections and bring higher monthly bills.
The Ohio House voted 98-0 on Thursday, June 3, in favor of the bill, which is supported by the Ohio Telecommunications Association and the Communications Workers of America.
Landline customers with bundled services will no longer have protections, such as an automatic month of credit if their phone is out for more than 72 hours or guarantee that their service will be reconnected within 24 hours of paying a bill, said Marty Berkowitz, spokesman for the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel.
The bill also allows phone companies to hike basic service fees by up to $15 a year, he said.
The telecom industry pushed the bill as a much-needed modernization of regulations now that more and more Ohioans get their telephone service through wireless companies or cable TV providers.
In 2001, there were 7 million landline and 4.7 million wireless telephone lines. By 2008, landlines had dropped to 4.5 million, while wireless climbed to 9.1 million.
The bill goes back to the Ohio Senate for agreement on changes made by the House.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment |
Comments
By Unions Suck
June 9, 2010 2:19 PM | Link to this
Just another example of pathetic unions telling government what to do.
By sagefolk
June 3, 2010 3:09 PM | Link to this
so the way i am understanding this is that we are not going to be protected AND see our landline phone bills increasing because other people choose to use cable as their phone service provider? That doesn’t make sense to me!!