By Regan McCarthy
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-979886.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – The Public Service Commission has overseen the operation of land line telephones for years. The commission regulated costs, the way bills were printed and the time frame in which a company was required to respond to an outage. But fewer Floridians are using land line phones. The number of citizen signed up for the service decreased by almost 40-percent from 2001 to 2009. And Commissioner Ronald Brise' says regulation does cost money.
"If you have to be regulated then there are fees that are associated with that, at least fees that are passed on by the government so that there is effective regulation."
As a former legislator Brise' actually voted for a similar measure a few years ago. Now that the bill has passed he says he's still behind it. He says the change is not that land line companies will no longer be regulated, but it's who will regulate them. Now instead of government regulation, land line phone services will be overseen by the people.
"The argument always is if you have multiple choices within the market, then individuals can make the choice and as a result of that the market self regulates. And considering that there are plenty of companies that provide telephone service there is ample space for competition so therefore, in that particular space individuals make the decision about regulation based upon who hey decide to do business with."
AARP spokesman Charles Milsted agrees that consumers will have to take responsibility for regulation.
"It is now incumbent on us as consumers to watch out for ourselves. We can learn how to read the telephone bill. If we see that there is a problem we can contact the telephone company, see what our options are and also help get the word out to neighbors and loved ones as much as we can. Watching out for our own protection because there's no oversight now."
But Milsted says he worries that prices will climb. He says that's been the case when several other states have given up on land line regulation.
"We were told that competition would drive the price down and it hasn't happed in other states that we were able to survey. Missouri, Kansas, a couple of others."
Milsted says despite the fact that the number of land line users is shrinking thousands of people stand to be negatively affected by a land line price jump. The Public Service Commission still fields about 45-hunded calls each year from users with questions or complaints about services or bills. And he says there are about 160-thousand land line subscribers in the state.
"If you look at 160-thousand subscribers and count the number of people in those households that could be a considerable number of people that are being affected. And many people would maintain that basic level of service because one, that's all they wanted, all they needed or all they could afford. Or perhaps it's all they could operate.
The state's elderly aren't the only people who stand to be impacted by a potential price jump. Florida's Telecommunications Relay Incorporation is a system set up for people who are hearing or speech impaired. The program is monitored and funded by the Public Service Commission, but it runs on land line phones. FTRI Director James Forstall, who is deaf himself, says that service is needed for simple things like holding down a job.
"With our program you have basic access to telecommunication services through a land line. There are a lot of people out there who may not be able to afford the wireless devices, so they use our program."
Other concerns raised about the deregulation involve communication during major emergencies. Some say cell towers are less trustworthy than land line phone infrastructure. Charolette county Emergency Management director Wayne Sallade says that was a problem during Hurricane Charlie in 2004.
"We did loose cell sites because they didn't have generator backups, they didn't have their power, the batteries didn't last very long, and they went down. But those companies have learned and they have prepositioned staged generators and I don't have near the concerns as I once did in terms of the cell phone industry."
Sallade says if the state is moving to a greater dependence on wireless phones he expects technology to keep improving so that communication can continue in the event of an emergency. The Public Service Commission will continue to oversee programs such as Lifeline, which offers discounted telephone services to low-income residents and will also continue its role in resolving disputes among land line carriers.