Sanford makes wrong call on phone bill

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Gov. Mark Sanford signed a bill that limits the state Public Service Commission's rate-setting authority for local telephone service, a move that could result in higher phone bills for the state's consumers and will certainly strip away price protections for some consumers who have limited choice.

The governor should have vetoed this bill. There are still too few South Carolinians who enjoy the price benefits of meaningful, robust competition.

At some point, the PSC should get out of the rate-setting business for phone service. But that time has yet to come, because this state lags behind the rest of the nation when it comes to competitive markets. One way to measure that is by how much market share former monopoly providers continue to hold. A recent news story in The (Charleston) Post and Courier cites a Federal Communications Commission report that says 90 percent of South Carolinians are still served by incumbent providers like BellSouth. Clearly, that says the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that promised to usher in a new era of price competition needs more time to deliver.

This bill handicaps competitors and would-be competitors with the former monopolies, all but guaranteeing that 90 percent market share dominance continues.