skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina s congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Consumer Advocates: Put Phone Deregulation on Hold in KY

play audio
Play

Thursday, March 13, 2014   

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Phone deregulation, which would allow major carriers to no longer provide landline service in some parts of Kentucky, has received a busy signal in the state’s House of Representatives since arriving from the Senate.

Consumer advocates say the legislation needs to remain on hold while the transition to an Internet protocol-based network can be tested.

"Deregulating basic service and eliminating the Public Service Commission's authority to assure highly reliable basic service is not a responsible course of action given what the FCC has laid out," says Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council.

AT&T, the driving force behind the legislation in Kentucky, has proposed to the Federal Communications Commission to test the transition away from traditional service in a rural part of Alabama and an urban part of Florida.

The proposed legislation in Kentucky would allow phone carriers to quit providing landline service in urban areas with more than 15,000 houses.

They would no longer have to supply the service to new homes or businesses statewide.

Mimi Pickering, a member of the Rural Broadband Policy Group, says consumers would lose needed protections.

"There would be real concerns about costs rising, about service reliability, and maintenance and timely repair," she points out.

AT&T has told Kentucky lawmakers it needs the freedom to shift money it now spends on traditional home phone service to its high-speed broadband infrastructure.

Pickering, who lives in Whitesburg, says those who oppose deregulation are not anti-technology.

"We are desperate to get really high-speed Internet and see that as one of the real solutions to transforming our economy,” she stresses. “But there is absolutely nothing in this bill that would make that a reality."

FitzGerald says if the bill passes, more than 11,000 households would immediately lose their assurance that they could continue to have a traditional home phone that they now have a right to receive.






get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021