Senate Bill 108, which earlier this week passed the Senate by a unanimous vote, will give Qwest the ability to quickly respond to its competitors instead of waiting months for permission from state regulators to change its prices.
The bill, however, offers no guarantee Utah consumers who subscribe to services such as call waiting, call forwarding and voice mail will pay less.
Increased price competition can make it easier or harder for consumers to find bargains in the marketplace, said Mark Cooper, director of research for the Consumer Federation of America, a consumer-advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.
"The problem is that most of those types of services almost always are sold as part of a bundle," Cooper said. "You usually can't go out and buy basic telephone service from one company and receive call waiting from another."
Generally, the cost of telecom service packages has been increasing, Cooper said.
In mid-January, for example, Qwest announced that beginning this month, customers in 10 states - not including Utah - will be asked to pay as much as 15 percent more for two of its most popular telephone service packages.
The company said it will charge $29.99 a month, up from $25.99, for its Qwest Choice Home package, which includes local phone service and three features of the customer's choice. The Qwest Choice Home Plus package, which offers 10 features, will now cost many of the company's customers $34.99 a month, or $2 more a month.
Qwest's Utah President Jerry Fenn said SB108 could benefit consumers by providing the lowest prices competition can offer.
"In a competitive market- place, stimulating competition often results in downward pressure on prices," Fenn said, adding that SB108 will give the company the ability to offer competitive discounts, rebates and other promotions to match those of its competitors.
SB108, though, is more about fairness, Fenn said. It is about allowing Qwest to be on equal footing with its competitors while also recognizing there is robust competition in the Utah telecommunications marketplace.
Roger Ball, director of the Committee of Consumer Services, said that utility watchdog organization does not oppose SB108 because of the protection it affords consumers. The bill, in addition to capping the cost of basic home phone service, also gives the Public Service Commission the ability to intervene if Qwest abuses its new freedoms.
"One of our biggest concerns is that if Qwest is effective in driving its competitors [out of the market] that it will be tempted to push up prices," Ball said. "But there are provisions [in the bill] that allow the PSC to go back in if that happens."
