IP Democracy: Appeals Court Keeps Antitrust Case Against RBOCs Alive

The Wall Street Journal reports that:

A federal appeals court on Monday said an antitrust lawsuit against several of the nation’s largest telecommunication providers over whether they conspired to exclude competitors from their geographic markets should be allowed to go forward.

The court did not rule on the merits of the case but instead remanded it to the district court.

The lawsuit alleged the telecommunications companies, which control more than 90% of local telephone service in the U.S., conspired not to compete against one another in their respective geographic markets for local telephone and high-speed Internet services and to prevent competitors from entering those markets.

The complaint says the alleged conspiracy has driven a number of competing local exchange carriers out of business, restrain competition for local telephone and high-speed Internet services and force consumers to pay higher rates than they would have in a competitive environment.

Posted by Mitch Shapiro on October 3, 2005 5:26 PM to IP Democracy