State considers relaxing cellular rate-setting rules.Move would let companies alter cellular rates at will Lobbying efforts spearheaded by the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Cellular Telephone Co., better known as L.A. Cellular, have helped spawn To launch another program from the current program. The child program is spawned from the parent program. (operating system) spawn - To create a child process in a multitasking operating system. E.g. a California Public Utilities Commission The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC; also often commonly referred to as simply the PUC) [1] is a state Public Utilities Commission which regulates privately-owned utilities in the state of California, including electric power, proposal and a similar Assembly bill to make cellular service pricing more competitive by giving service providers more freedom to alter rates. The March 24 PUC (Public Utility Commission) A regulatory body in every state in the U.S. that governs public utilities within its jurisdiction such as electricity, gas, oil, sewer, water, transportation and telephone service. Some states call it the Public Service Commission (PSC). proposal calls for allowing cellular service providers to raise and lower their rates at will, as long as they do not exceed the PUC-approved ceiling, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. telecommunications Communicating information, including data, text, pictures, voice and video over long distance. See communications. experts. Meanwhile, Gwen A. Moore, D-Los Angeles, chairwoman of the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee, introduced AB 1386 in February, which, like the PUC recommendation, would let cellular service providers cut rates at will as long as they do not hike them back beyond the PUC-approved cellular rate ceiling. "The crux Crux (kr  ks) [Lat.,=cross], small but brilliant southern constellation whose four most prominent members form a Latin cross, the famous Southern Cross. of the PUC proposal is that cellular rates can go down without PUC approval, like they can now. But, under the proposal, cellular companies could raise their rates back up without PUC approval," as long as the cellular companies do not exceed the existing PUC rate limits, said David Nelson David Nelson may refer to:
"The PUC recommendation to let cellular service providers and resellers adjust their prices more freely is good for competition," said Nelson, who also is president of the Los Angeles-based Cellular Resellers Association. "Resellers" are companies that buy time on cellular networks that are owned by primary cellular providers, such as PacTel Cellular or L.A. Cellular. Resellers pay wholesale prices for that time, and then mark up the price of the services to end users. L.A. Cellular and PacTel Cellular are the two primary cellular service providers that service Los Angeles. Primary service providers own their own relay towers, also known as cell sites. Just two cellular service providers are permitted to operate in each of California's 30 cellular districts. Each cellular provider, besides servicing clients on a retail basis, sells wholesale access to resellers, according to PUC regulations. When one of the two cellular providers in each district drops its retail price, it must also drop its wholesale price, according to PUC regulations. Several cellular resellers are working up recommendations to the PUC that language be included in the pricing policy change recommendation to ensure all resellers are notified by fax or electronic mail when a primary cellular service provider, such as PacTel or L.A. Cellular, changes its rates, Nelson said. Otherwise, resellers could be the victims of predatory pricing Predatory pricing (also known as destroyer pricing) is the practice of a firm selling a product at very low price with the intent of driving competitors out of the market, or create a barrier to entry into the market for potential new competitors. practices by primary providers, he said. Specifically, primary providers could drop their wholesale and retail rates and resellers, if not notified of those changes, would not know to drop their retail rates accordingly, based on the lower wholesale prices. As a result, some retail customers might be convinced to switch to lower-priced primary providers. As of press time, the PUC was still collecting input from legislators and the public at large on its recommendation to alter the cellular rate structure. Actual adoption of the recommendation could come as early as this month, said PUC officials. As for the Assembly bill introduced by Moore, it has been put on the back burner Noun 1. back burner - reduced priority; "dozens of cases were put on the back burner" precedence, precedency, priority - status established in order of importance or urgency; "... by the Legislature until after the fate of the virtually identical PUC proposal is decided, said Randy Chinn, a utilities and commercial communications adviser to Moore. The outcome of the two measures could have a significant local impact. With nearly $1 billion in sales in 1992, the Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, cellular market -- with Los Angeles County at its heart -- is the largest in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , industry experts confirmed. Cellular service providers in Southern California started lobbying the PUC earlier this year to let cellular service providers alter rates at will under the PUC-approved rate ceiling. This would allow more competition for the lucrative corporate accounts, said telecommunication telecommunication Communication between parties at a distance from one another. Modern telecommunication systems—capable of transmitting telephone, fax, data, radio, or television signals—can transmit large volumes of information over long distances. analysts. PacTel officials said they like the idea of more competitive pricing, but warned that changes must be made in the PUC proposal so that cellular resellers are not squeezed out of the Los Angeles market. Although the demise of resellers would give PacTel and L.A. Cellular total dominance over the L.A. cellular retail market, PacTel supports protecting resellers because resellers' demise would result in PacTel losing its lucrative wholesale market. PacTel Cellular spokeswoman Melissa May said PacTel likes the PUC proposal but that it still needs some work. Cellular service providers already can drop their rates whenever they want, but must receive permission from the PUC to raise them back, even it that raise remains below the PUC-imposed ceiling, said cellular experts. The PUC proposal, if put in place, would streamline the cellular rate adjustment process, said experts. As of press time, L.A. Cellular executives had not yet fully analyzed an·a·lyze tr.v. an·a·lyzed, an·a·lyz·ing, an·a·lyz·es 1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations. 2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of. 3. the PUC recommendation, according to a L.A. Cellular spokeswoman. But she added that the recommendation seemed consistent with a petition L.A. Cellular filed with the PUC earlier this year. The PUC wants language included in the proposal that cellular service providers must keep passing on wholesale prices in direct proportion to any of their retail price cuts, said Assemblywoman as·sem·bly·wom·an n. A woman who is a member of a legislative assembly. Noun 1. assemblywoman - a woman assemblyman representative - a person who represents others Moore's adviser Chinn. The PUC proposal does not force resellers to pass on discounts to their customers, but Chinn said retail competition is so stiff that they will either be forced to pass along the savings or risk being squeezed out of business. However, Chinn said he doubts individual users will see much of a price cut. "I think the cellular companies will compete for price with their large corporate users," he said. |
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