• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Tampa, Fla.-Area Telephone Rates to Increase

Posted on: Saturday, 17 September 2005, 00:00 CDT

Sep. 17--TAMPA -- Remember that $350 million rate increase Florida's local telephone providers won from state regulators? It's finally coming to your bill.

Verizon, Sprint and BellSouth filed documents with the Florida Public Service Commission on Friday that will increase basic rates for local residential customers from $1.13 to $2.25 a month for the next year beginning no earlier than Oct. 31.

The PSC cannot deny the coming increases, but will examine the filings to ensure the calculations are correct, said Kevin Bloom, PSC spokesman.

"The numbers to some extent have been agreed upon," he said. "But, yes, they have to be reviewed. The devil is in the details."

Verizon is the largest local telephone provider in the Tampa Bay area. For its residential customers, who pay a basic rate between $10.70 and $12.10 a month, phone bills will increase $1.58 a month, said Bob Elek, Verizon's spokesman in Tampa.

The company also plans to increase bills another 22 cents to 52 cents a month as part of its annual price plan adjustment, an increase based on the consumer price index minus 1 percent, he said.

Sprint plans to raise the basic rate for local, residential customers $2.25 a month, said Charles Rehwinkel, Sprint's state vice president.

The basic monthly rate for BellSouth customers will rise $1.13, said Marta M. Casas-Celaya, BellSouth spokeswoman.

The $350 million rate increase, considered the largest in Florida history, will be spread over four installments. A year after the first boost, the PSC will review company records to determine the amount of subsequent increases.

The rate increase was approved by the PSC in December 2003. Attorney General Charlie Crist, the AARP and the Office of Public Counsel, which represents consumers in rate cases before the commission, failed in their attempts to get the PSC to reconsider the decision in 2004 and have it overturned by the Florida Supreme Court this year.

The rate increase, which affects local residential and single-line business customers, is aimed at balancing reductions in the access fees the big telephone companies charge long-distance carriers.

By law, the exchange should be revenue neutral for the local carriers, and the long-distance carriers are required to pass along any of their savings to consumers.

In December 2003, commissioners said the higher costs of telephone service would encourage more companies to offer local services, which should benefit consumers.

A PSC report on competition shows that the number of Florida telephone exchanges with three or more competing companies increased from 243 to 248 in 2004. But the increase was at a slower pace than the previous year.

No figures are available for 2005.

-----

To see more of the Tampa Tribune -- including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tampatrib.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, Tampa Tribune, Fla.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

VZ, S, BLS,

Source: Tampa Tribune

More News in this Category