My local telephone company is one of Maines 23 independent rural local monopolies (as opposed to Verizon). Why are my rates increasing so much lately?
A. The Maine Legislature has required the reduction of instate access charges (the fees paid by long-distance companies to local companies to complete long-distance phone calls). This has caused significant reductions in revenues for many of Maine’s local phone companies. As a result, the Maine Public Utilities Commission has allowed local phone companies to recover these “lost” revenues by increasing their local rates. In addition, the PUC has required the expansion of many rural local calling areas around the state and is allowing rate increases to recover those costs as well.
Related Questions
- I am served by a rural independent local telephone company and can’t get some of the services available in Verizon territory – what can be done about that?
- My local telephone company is one of Maines 23 independent rural local monopolies (as opposed to Verizon). Why are my rates increasing so much lately?
- Why would I care about using a nation-wide company versus an independent local provider?
